Elements in Generative AI Education- Maturity

This Element explores how generative AI transforms education, not only by requiring new forms of literacy but by demanding a framework of autonomy, responsibility, and epistemic virtues. Current AI literacy frameworks emphasize technical proficiency, yet remain incomplete without addressing the normative risks of AI immaturity. This Element argues that education must promote AI maturity: the ability to use AI without succumbing to cognitive offloading, algorithmic dependence, or epistemic heteronomy. It identifies key forms of AI immaturity and reconceptualizes prompting as a dialogical practice paralleling the Socratic method – the art of questioning, iterating, and critically engaging AI. Finally, it introduces a framework of epistemic virtues that enables students and citizens to resist disempowerment and cultivate epistemic autonomy. By bridging philosophy and pedagogy, the Element shows how generative AI can become a medium of epistemic autonomy, offering concrete guidance for curricula, assessment, and classroom practice.