After decades of hype promising fundamental changes to education driven by new technologies, analytics, and AI, it’s time to take stock of its actual impact and realistic future directions. That’s the goal of the Empowering Learners for the Age of AI (ELAI) conference. Now in its third year, ELAI will feature over 130 speakers and six keynotes from around the world exploring learning, teaching, AI, and creation and innovation in the education sector. The conference takes place December 5 to 7 fully online and totally free.

This year’s conference theme is on the theory, models, and practical impact of AI. Recently, there have been incredible breakthroughs in AI technology. How these advancements impact learning and education is an area of important consideration. For example, one area that has received extensive media coverage of late is generative AI and its capability of creating images and videos from short text inputs. Similarly, AI now exists that can produce papers that challenge existing plagiarism-detection software. For educators, advancements in creativity raise consequential questions about how education and teaching and learning are impacted.

ELAI is sponsored by the Global Research Alliance for AI in Learning and Education (GRAILE). Caitlin Mills, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, is a member of the ELAI program committee.