Sustainable Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Digitalization: A Value-Critical Approach

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalization in contemporary education has intensified global debates on sustainable education, frequently framed around efficiency, personalization, and technological innovation. At the same time, these developments have accelerated processes of technologization and commodification, raising concerns about the erosion of educational values and human-centered purposes. This tension calls for a critical reassessment of what sustainability should mean in AI-mediated educational contexts. The objective of this study is to examine under what conditions AI contributes to sustainable education as a value-based and human-centered project, and under what conditions it undermines it. Methodologically, the article adopts a qualitative, value-critical analysis of contemporary scholarly literature and policy-oriented debates, employing the distinction between sustainable education, sustainability in education, and education for sustainable development as a heuristic entry point within a broader theoretical dialogue. The analysis demonstrates that AI does not exert a uniform or inherently progressive influence on education. While AI can enhance access, personalization, and instructional support in ethically grounded and well-governed contexts, it may also intensify educational inequalities, reinforce the commodification of knowledge, weaken academic integrity, and marginalize the formative and human dimensions of education under market-driven and weakly regulated conditions. These dynamics are particularly visible in culturally and religiously grounded educational contexts, where AI reshapes epistemic authority and educational meaning. The study concludes that achieving sustainable education in the digital age depends not on AI adoption per se, but on subordinating AI and digitalization to coherent normative, ethical, and governance frameworks that prioritize educational purpose, social justice, and human dignity.