In this episode, Bogdan Glăvan from Babeș-Bolyai University explore what happens when educators – not just students – use generative AI to shape teaching itself. Through a psychology course example involving a simulated AI patient, the episode examines three key ethical questions drawn from the ETH-TECH Framework: who remains in charge, what students need to understand about the system, and whose experience the system might misrepresent or leave out. Drawing on a distinction introduced by guest speaker Federico Zilio at the ETH-TECH kick-off meeting, the episode reflects on whether generative AI is best understood as a tool, an assistant, or something in between – and why that distinction matters for human agency, transparency, and fairness in education.

References

• European Commission. (2022). Ethical guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data in teaching and learning for educators. Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2766/153756
• ETH-TECH Consortium. (n.d.). Ethics of AI and data in education: The situated ETH-TECH perspective: A framework for practice. Project Deliverable, Work Package II.
• ETH-TECH Consortium. (n.d.). OER 3: Storyboarding: Imagining fair and non-discriminatory educational technology and AI usage. https://eth-tech.eu/oer-storyboarding/
• García-Torres, D., Fernández, C., Mira, J. J., Morales, A., & Vicente, M. A. (2025). Using AI-based virtual simulated patients for training in psychopathological interviewing: Cross-sectional observational study. JMIR Medical Education, 11, e78857. https://doi.org/10.2196/78857
• Sikström, S., Boehme, R. A., Mirström, M., Agbotsoka, T., Győri, G., Lasota, M., Tabesh, M., Stille, L., & Garcia, D. (2025). Generative AI-assisted clinical interviewing of mental health. Scientific Reports, 15, 37737. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13429-x
• Zilio, F. (2025, January 22-24). Applied ethics: From theory to technology [Guest presentation]. ETH-TECH Kick-off Meeting.

Episode conducted by the BBU team and produced by the University of Padua (UNIPD).