Artificial intelligence, images, and ethics in educational research: a critical analysis from a critical pedagogy perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5212/PraxEduc.v.21.26162.064Abstract
The growing use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in Humanities research poses new ethical and epistemological challenges to knowledge production. In the field of Education, the automated generation of images, texts, and other symbolic artifacts challenges established notions of authorship, neutrality, representation, and research integrity. This article analyzes the critical reading of an AI-generated image based on the syllabus of the course Research in Education, examining it as an epistemological device in researcher education. Grounded in critical pedagogy and visual studies, the study adopts a qualitative, interpretive approach guided by a framework for critical image analysis. The analysis shows that the image does not represent knowledge itself but rather projects idealized imaginaries of academic research, obscuring the contradictions, conflicts, and inequalities that shape knowledge production. The article argues that the critical reading of AI-generated images constitutes a fundamental ethical practice in educational research by making visible the regimes of truth, underlying intentionalities, and risks of misinformation involved in the algorithmic mediation of knowledge. It concludes that addressing the ethical challenges posed by AI in the Humanities requires not only regulatory frameworks but also critical educational practices that reaffirm research integrity, reflexivity, and epistemological responsibility.
Keywords: Research ethics. Artificial intelligence. Critical pedagogy.
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