AI and Post-Truth: Epistemic Challenges in Schools and Teacher Education

Schools today face two major challenges: the increasing use of generative AI and the rise of what is commonly referred to as the “post-truth” condition. The logics of post-truth blur the distinction between facts and values and erode trust in established sources of knowledge, while generative AI provides rapid, often simplified and sometimes inaccurate answers in a language that makes the content appear trustworthy. Together, these phenomena constitute an epistemic crisis that teachers need to address. Previous research has highlighted the lack of critical and practice-oriented perspectives on generative AI in education, as well as the need to develop teaching approaches that strengthen students’ ability to assess the plausibility of different claims and understand the contextual nature of knowledge. Against this background, the aim of the project is to investigate how teachers and student teachers understand, evaluate, and manage generative AI in relation to questions of knowledge, credibility, and accountability. Through focus group interviews with student teachers and practicing teachers, the project analyzes how generative AI interacts with the logics of post-truth and explores how pedagogical strategies can be developed to strengthen students’ epistemic thinking. The project will thus contribute theoretical insights into knowledge and learning in an AI-driven age, as well as pedagogical perspectives and concrete teaching designs for addressing the challenges identified in the project.

At the intersection of AI literacy and the post-truth condition lies the epistemic crisis that this project seeks to investigate. Against this backdrop, the aim of the project is to examine how teachers and student teachers understand, evaluate, and engage with generative AI (GenAI) in an era shaped by post-truth dynamics. In doing so, the project contributes both a theoretical understanding of how generative AI is reshaping the conditions for knowledge, credibility, and truth claims in education, and pedagogical insights into how teacher education can prepare future teachers to operate in this environment while fostering a classroom climate in which students learn to navigate uncertain knowledge and complex relationships.

The empirical, theoretical, and pedagogical contributions of the project are addressed through the following research questions:

1. How do student teachers and practicing teachers reason about the relationship between GenAI and conceptions of knowledge? (empirical contribution)

2. How does generative AI interact with the logics of post-truth in shaping how knowledge is produced, legitimized, and evaluated in educational contexts? (theoretical contribution)

3. How can these insights be used to further develop teaching about GenAI and epistemic thinking in schools and teacher education? (pedagogical contribution)