Exploring totalitarian elements of artificial intelligence in higher education with Hannah Arendt

Abstract

From the perspective of political philosophy, this article examines the extent to which artificial intelligence (AI) applications in higher education contain totalitarian elements. Drawing on the theoretical considerations of Hannah Arendt, the author first identifies the key characteristics of total domination and then relates these to two AI applications in the field of higher education: adaptive learning systems and AI-based text generators. On this basis, the article elaborates on the similarities between concrete AI technologies and totalitarian structures. Finally, the author formulates questions that can be used to examine if concrete AI applications exhibit totalitarian traits. The aim of this theoretical contribution is to provide a perspective that will help to identify new dangers of AI or to see already known dangers in a new light, leading to a deeper and broader discourse on the consequences of AI.