GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AS A MEDIATOR IN TEACHING PRACTICE A CRITICAL REFLECTION ON ITS PEDAGOGICAL AND ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS.

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence has become one of the emerging technologies with the greatest impact on contemporary educational systems, particularly in the transformation of teaching practice. The purpose of this essay is to critically analyze the role of generative artificial intelligence as a mediator in teaching and learning processes, emphasizing its pedagogical and ethical implications within the current educational context. From an interpretative and reflective perspective, the study adopts a qualitative hermeneutic approach grounded in the review and critical analysis of specialized academic literature in education, technology and ethics. Within the thematic development, the theoretical foundations that allow generative artificial intelligence to be understood beyond its instrumental dimension are examined, addressing it as a cultural device that reconfigures pedagogical dynamics teaching roles and forms of knowledge construction. The findings reveal that generative artificial intelligence offers significant opportunities for the personalization of learning, the optimization of pedagogical tasks, and the expansion of access to information; however, it also poses risks related to cognitive dependency, the dehumanization of the educational act and ethical dilemmas associated with authorship assessment and social responsibility. Therefore, it is argued that the integration of generative artificial intelligence in education is pedagogically meaningful only when it is embedded within a clear ethical framework and guided by reflective teaching mediation. Far from replacing teachers, this technology should be conceived as a complementary resource that strengthens critical thinking, intellectual autonomy and the humanistic character of education.