AI in Education: Will AI Reduce or Intensify Inequalities? (Hybrid Event)
<<<<This is a hybrid event. The discussion will take place in person at Sciences Po in Paris (limited to 50 seats) and will also be livestreamed online via Roam via the link below.>>>>
<<<<<⚠️ Important: If you wish to attend in person, you must confirm your presence by email at [email protected] (if you have not already done so) by 19/02/2026. Please note that access to the venue will only be granted to participants who have confirmed their in-person attendance via email.
Instructions for confirmed in-person participants
The event will take place at Sciences Po – Saint Thomas campus, located at:
1 Place Saint Thomas d’Aquin, 75007 Paris.
Upon arrival, please provide your name and event details to security staff to receive access and directions.
Kindly bring a valid ID or passport.
After passing through security, turn right and continue until you see the large marble staircase. Take the stairs up to the Salons Scientifiques on the upper floor, where we will welcome you before the event begins.>>>>>>
Artificial Intelligence is rapidly entering classrooms, guidance systems, and learning platforms. But beyond promises of personalization and efficiency, AI is also reshaping how students form aspirations, make choices, and navigate educational pathways, often in ways that remain invisible.
This event explores how AI is transforming education not only in terms of access and learning outcomes, but in its deeper psychological, sociological, and ethical dimensions. We will examine whether AI can genuinely reduce educational inequalities, or whether it risks reinforcing existing forms of social reproduction and creating new barriers for disadvantaged students.
Bringing together sociological insight and practical EdTech experience, the discussion will focus on how algorithmic systems influence educational choices, guidance, and opportunity structures, and on who truly benefits from AI-driven tools.
Key questions include:
Will AI reduce or intensify inequalities in education?
Who has access to beneficial AI tools, and who may be left behind?
How might algorithmic systems reinforce existing social hierarchies?
Can AI be designed and governed to support equity rather than reproduce privilege?
Speakers
Agnès van Zanten
Emeritus Senior Research Professor at CNRS and Sciences Po, Agnès van Zanten is an internationally recognized sociologist of education. Her work focuses on class-based and spatial educational inequalities, elite education, access to higher education, and processes of social reproduction.
Briac Sockalingum
Economist–technologist and COO of Compas’Sup, Briac Sockalingum studies the economic and institutional impacts of AI on education systems. He founded Compas’Sup to reduce information asymmetry in high school orientation and is currently working on infrastructure for AI-native universities. He is a Pre-Doctoral Researcher at IMT Business School and holds degrees from UC Berkeley and Sciences Po.
Moderator
Ana Catarina de Alencar – Resident Philosopher, The AI Collective
Ana Catarina de Alencar is an international lawyer and ethicist based in Paris. She works directly on AI governance and compliance projects and is currently a PhD researcher at the Université de Lille, where she develops an interdisciplinary project on emotional AI at the intersection of law and neurobiology.
She holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy and Technology of Law and is the author of several publications, including Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Law (2022). Ana is a member of the Open Ethics AI association and Women in AI Governance. She has also served as a university lecturer in Political Philosophy, Digital Rights, GDPR and AI Regulation, and is recognized as an expert in European technology regulation.
Event details
📍 Location: Sciences Po, Paris – Salons scientifiques
1 Place Saint-Thomas d'Aquin
75007 Paris.
🗓 Date: 24 February 2026
🕔 Time: 17:00–18:30
🗣 Language: English
Instructions to in-person participants:
The event will be held at Sciences Po, on the Saint Thomas campus, located at 1 Place Saint Thomas d'Aquin, 75007, Paris. Upon arrival, share your name and event details with security and apparitors to receive access and be given directions. Please bring an ID/Passport document.
After being granted access through the security/access gates, head to your right and proceed until you see the large marble staircase. Take these stairs up to reach the Salons Scientifiques on the upper floor, where we will welcome you before the event begins.
🏛 Organized by: The AI Collective
🎟 Format: Hybrid event
• Onsite: 50 in-person seats at Sciences Po
• Online: Open to the general public on Roam. Connect through the link: https://ro.am/r/#/d/eF1soA85T4iSuWRAvr_fXQ/pKxac9NyyVNF0mWlrKrBkg
This event is open to researchers, educators, students, policymakers and anyone interested in the future of education, inequality and AI governance.
The AI Collective is a global non-profit community uniting 100,000+ pioneers – founders, researchers, operators, and investors – exploring the frontier of AI in major tech hubs worldwide. Through events, workshops, and community-led research, we empower the AI ecosystem to collaboratively steer AI’s future toward trust, openness, and human flourishing.
All attendees and organizers at events affiliated with The AI Collective agree to our privacy policy and are subject to our code of conduct.