Argentine schools weigh AI’s promise and risks in classrooms

Argentina’s debate over AI in schools mirrors conversations happening globally but with a distinctly Latin American twist: high uptake among students, uneven infrastructure, and deep concern about already fragile learning outcomes. The cited study suggests that more than half of children have used generative AI, mostly for homework, yet the system has few guardrails or pedagogical frameworks in place. That mix of widespread use and institutional unpreparedness is a recipe for both creative experimentation and quiet erosion of critical‑thinking habits.

For AGI watchers, this matters because education is where societal expectations about AI’s role get set for a generation. If students grow up treating large models as answer machines to shortcut tasks, we may see skill atrophy and over‑reliance precisely in the cohorts that will later be asked to oversee and regulate frontier systems. Conversely, Latin American experiments in using AI for low‑cost personalized tutoring and inclusion could demonstrate how to narrow educational gaps without importing expensive foreign platforms wholesale.

The report’s call for clear criteria, teacher training and safeguards echoes similar moves in Europe and North America, but from a context where public resources are tighter. How countries like Argentina resolve that tension will shape whether AGI ends up amplifying existing educational inequities or helping to close them.