We are thrilled to announce that AFIRMASI researcher Muhammad Hilal Sudarbi will present his groundbreaking paper, "AI as Guest, Wisdom as Teacher: Rebuilding Power Relations in Educational Technology through the Culturally Sustaining AI Framework," at the 2026 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, California.
Hilal's paper was accepted for the Roundtable Session titled "Exploring the Intersections of Artificial Intelligence and Educational Research" under Division G (Social Context of Education). Out of more than 13,000 submissions worldwide, his work stood out for its powerful critique of the uncritical adoption of AI in global educational systems.
Reframing AI: The "Guest" and the "Teacher"
The core thesis of Hilal's paper addresses a pressing concern: when AI is uncritically adopted in education, particularly in marginalized contexts like Indonesia's 3T areas, it risks becoming a neocolonial force. By privileging Eurocentric epistemologies and techno-solutionist discourse, AI systems often sideline local and Indigenous knowledge.
To counter this, Hilal introduces the "Culturally Sustaining AI Framework." This innovative model shifts the power dynamic through a powerful metaphor: positioning AI as a "guest" and local community wisdom as the "teacher." This reframing ensures that technological integration is guided by and accountable to local epistemologies, rather than the other way around.
Theoretical Grounding and Reviewer Acclaim
Reviewers from AERA praised the study's rich theoretical grounding, which draws upon Paris and Alim’s culturally-responsive pedagogy and Avraamidou’s work on science identity and AI's colonization of science education. One reviewer noted, "The intersection of AI and marginalized education is crucial, especially as AI becomes embedded in global systems without equitable consideration. Reframing AI as a 'guest' and local knowledge as the 'teacher' is a powerful metaphor that shifts the power dynamic in favor of local communities."
Another reviewer highlighted the depth of the paper's critical discourse analysis, which revealed how current educational technology discourse often leads to the discursive exclusion of local epistemologies and the naturalization of neocolonial ideologies.
Hilal's presentation in April 2026 represents a critical step forward in AFIRMASI's mission to ensure that AI serves as a tool for empowerment rather than extraction. We congratulate Hilal on this fantastic achievement and look forward to the vital interdisciplinary conversations his work will spark at AERA 2026!