Abstract

Artificial intelligence in education is not just a technical innovation; it reshapes who makes meaning in classrooms. This article examines interpretive authority in AI-mediated learning and asks where epistemic agency resides when generative systems participate in teaching and learning. Drawing on dialogic pedagogy, self-regulated learning research, and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, the article introduces the Interpretive Authority Matrix and the Ecological Authority Integration Model (EAIM). The Matrix maps how authority shifts across human-dominant, AI-assistive, AI-directive, and dialogic partnership configurations. The ecological model explains how individual metacognition, classroom design, institutional policy, and sociocultural narratives shape those shifts. Together, these frameworks reposition AI integration as an epistemic design challenge rather than a question of adoption or prohibition. Implications are discussed for instruction, formative assessment, teacher education, educational leadership, and ethical AI integration. By centering interpretive authority, this article argues that responsible artificial intelligence in education depends on preserving human judgment within coherent educational ecologies.

Keywords: Interpretive authority, epistemic agency, artificial intelligence in education, AI-mediated learning, dialogic pedagogy, self-regulated learning, formative assessment, ecological systems theory

How to Cite:

Porath, S., (2026) “Who Makes the Meaning? AI, Authority, and Agency in Education”, Educational Considerations 51(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.4148/edconsiderations.20915