As part of Digital Learning Week 2026, UNESCO opened a global consultation on the need to maintain education as a public good in the era of AI.
This consultation is supported by the release of a series of discussion papers on the adoption and impact of AI in education systems. Luciana Benotti, Beatriz Busaniche, Marcos Gomez, and Margarita Trovato prepared Fundación Vía Libre’s contribution to this process in the paper titled “Digital and AI Sovereignty: four evidence-informed cases” which was presented by Luciana Benotti during the plenary session of Digital Learning Week at UNESCO headquarters.
Topics covered are:
- Is there a right age for AI in education? Deciding whether AI is age-appropriate and why
- AI procurement in education: the missing lever in AI governance
- Safe enough to scale? A decision system for learner safety
- Digital and AI sovereignty: four evidence-informed cases
- The right to an explanation: Towards explainable AI in education
- Beyond the price tag: rethinking total cost of ownership for AI in education systems
Using the papers as the basis for consultation, UNESCO proposes the following questions:
- Concepts: How should the key concept be explained clearly for a policy audience?
- Policy problem: How should the underlying policy problem be framed?
- Policy recommendations: What clear, actionable and feasible recommendations should be provided for diverse education contexts?
- UNESCO principles: How should the police briefs reflect and advance UNESCO’s principles for AI in education, including human agency, equity, inclusion, safety and ethics?
- Evidence and implementation: What evidence, examples or country experiences could strengthen the analysis and support the feasibility of the proposed recommendations?
Fundación Vía Libre invites you to participate in this consultation to evaluate the best conditions for integrating AI into the education system. Contributions may be submitted to: aied@unesco.org. The deadline for comments is on 15 October 2026.
More information at https://www.unesco.org/en/digital-education/artificial-intelligence/consultation