Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Realizing the Right to

Education: Sustainable Development Trends and Potential Risks

Maria A. Lipchanskaya

and Tatiana N. Balashova

State University of Management, 99 Ryazansky Prospekt, Moscow, Russia

Keywords: Human and Civil Rights and Freedoms, The Right to Education, Information and Digital Reality, Artificial

Intelligence, Sustainable Education, Educational Standards of the Future.

Abstract: In the Russian legal doctrine, attempts to systematically approach the regulation of artificial intelligence

technologies have not been made for a long time. The long absence of fundamental research on this issue is

due, among other things, to the novelty of social relations. At the same time, the need for a balance in the

legal regulation and development of digitalization, artificial intelligence and the preservation of generally

recognized constitutional values is of particular importance. Technologies and systems of artificial

intelligence are purposefully introduced into all spheres of society and the state, their influence is becoming

more noticeable and tangible in the implementation of human rights, including basic social rights guaranteed

by the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The systems of health care, education, social assistance and

support are currently integrating the achievements of information technology and digitalization, striving to

ensure a barrier-free environment and high-quality implementation of human rights in the social sphere. The

article is devoted to the study of the problems of using artificial intelligence technologies in the

implementation of the right to education in the context of information and digital reality. The study pays

considerable attention to the problems of risks that citizens face when exercising their right to education, due

to the new digital reality and the use of artificial intelligence technologies. The work was carried out in

accordance with the principles of the systemic approach, dialectical interdependence, behaviorism, and

political hermeneutics. To solve the problem posed in the study, a complex of such mutually complementary

scientific methods as the systemic and socio-cultural analysis was used; structural and functional method;

analysis of documents and sources; interdisciplinary analysis.

1 INTRODUCTION

The large-scale plans of the Russian state for the

introduction and use of digital technologies and

artificial intelligence systems in all spheres of

society's life objectively actualize the need for

understanding, scientific substantiation, and adequate

legal regulation of these processes. For a long time,

there have been discussions among legal scholars

about assigning the legal status of "electronic

persons" to robots (Yastrebov, 2017), about

recognizing them as a full-fledged cyber subject of

society, about the possibility of granting legal

personality to virtual persons (Polich, 2018), about

endowing one or another system with the status of a

subject of law (Gabov, 2018), on the recognition of

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4410-0578

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1532-1451

the AI system as a subject of copyright and patent

rights (Morkhat, 2018), the use of AI in justice

(Afanas'yev, 2020), in the implementation of social

human rights is discussed (Lipchanskaya and

Zametina, 2020).

In the domestic legal doctrine, attempts to

systematically approach the regulation of artificial

intelligence technologies have not been undertaken

for a long time. The long absence of fundamental

research on this issue is due, among other things, to

the novelty of social relations. Currently, there are

publications devoted to the problems of conceptual

understanding of the regulatory problems of artificial

intelligence, where it is rightly noted that “the tactics

of regulatory promotion ... do not raise objections,

provided that the changes will be complex,

Lipchanskaya, M. and Balashova, T.

Artiﬁcial Intelligence Technologies in Realizing the Right to Education: Sustainable Development Trends and Potential Risks.

DOI: 10.5220/0010597107570763

In Proceedings of the International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure (ISSDRI 2021), pages 757-763

ISBN: 978-989-758-519-7

757

interconnected, which is impossible without the

development of at least the most general principles

with an awareness of the dynamics of regulatory

efforts” (Gabov and Khavanova, 2018).

Of particular importance is the need for a balance

in legal regulation and the development of

digitalization, artificial intelligence and the

preservation of generally recognized constitutional

values.

It is no coincidence that the strategic documents

of the Russian Federation, defining the main vector of

development of artificial intelligence technologies

and the tasks of their regulation, formulate not only

principles but also basic ethical norms, which

include: the priority of human well-being and

security, protection of their fundamental rights and

freedoms; a ban on causing harm to a person at the

initiative of artificial intelligence systems and

robotics; controllability to a person; prevention of

unlawful manipulation of human behavior.

In the last decade, futuristic ideas have been very

actively implemented into reality and provoke serious

challenges to the legal system of the Russian

Federation, the public administration system, and

society as a whole, since the development of artificial

intelligence technologies cannot be assessed

unambiguously, it is necessary to foresee,

scientifically substantiate and minimize the risks

associated with these processes.

The systems of health care, education, social

assistance and support are currently integrating the

achievements of information technology and

digitalization, striving to ensure a barrier-free

environment and high-quality implementation of

human rights in the social sphere. Of course, in the

conditions of the information society and the

introduction of artificial intelligence technologies,

there is a transformation not only of the

implementation of basic human rights but also a

change in their established content, new powers

appear or are supplemented by existing "digital"

specifics. This study focuses on the analysis of the

implementation of the constitutional right to

education in the context of information and digital

reality and the development of artificial intelligence

technologies.

2 THE METHODOLOGY OF

RESEARCH

The methodological basis of the research was formed

by the dialectical materialist method, as well as the

most important general methodological principles

and methods of cognition of social reality. In order to

form the conceptual and methodological foundations

of the study, the analysis of the concept of artificial

intelligence is carried out.

The use of systemic and structural-functional

methods made it possible to consider the trends and

prospects for the implementation of the constitutional

right to education in the context of information and

digital reality and the use of artificial intelligence in

the educational process.

The work was carried out in accordance with the

principles of the systemic approach, dialectical

interdependence, behaviorism, and political

hermeneutics. The theoretical and methodological

basis of the study is the synthesis of the general theory

of security and modern theories of the analysis of

social phenomena.

3 RESEARCH RESULTS

3.1 Implementation of the

Constitutional Right to Education

in the Russian Federation in the

Context of Digital Reality and

Artificial Intelligence

Currently, there is no special legislative regulation in

the Russian Federation that takes into account the

specifics of the use of artificial intelligence

technologies in the field of education.

In this situation, a conceptual dilemma arises: is it

appropriate to advance legislative regulation of the

imperative use of artificial intelligence technologies

in the educational process or the gradual application

of modern information technologies should be

flexible depending on the economic, resource,

national, and other characteristics and capabilities of

the educational organization and other subjects of the

educational process?

It is worth noting that in the Concept for the

development of regulation of relations in the area of

artificial intelligence and robotics technologies until

2024, the first task is to create the foundations of legal

regulation of new social relations, which are formed

in connection with the use of artificial intelligence

systems and robotics, which are mainly stimulating in

nature. Based on this, we can conclude that the

Russian state is focused on creating legal regulators

of a “soft imperative” nature, which create conditions

and motivate subjects of legal relations to use

artificial intelligence technologies.

Determining in the Concept the priority sectoral

directions for regulating the use of artificial

ISSDRI 2021 - International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure

758

intelligence, the education sector is unreasonably

ignored. The list of the main industry areas requiring

legal regulation of the implementation of artificial

intelligence systems includes the legislation of the

Russian Federation in the area of public health

protection; state and municipal administration; legal

regulation of artificial intelligence in the field of

transport, urban planning activities, including the

implementation of the concept of a "smart city" and

in the industrial field. This is a comprehensive list. It's

safe to assume at least two options for such a

situation. First, the Concept, adopted until 2024, does

not in fact imply the development of educational

legislation taking into account artificial intelligence

technologies in this area in the next few years.

Secondly, it is in the field of education that a flexible

step-by-step option for the introduction of artificial

intelligence is supposed to be applied at the discretion

of the educational organization itself, using a risk-

based approach based on assessing the size of

potential harm and the need to take measures to

minimize the corresponding risks.

Within the framework of this study, we do not aim

to conduct a detailed analysis of available

technologies and innovative artificial intelligence

systems currently used in education. There are a lot

of them and their number is constantly increasing. Let

us express our opinions regarding the relations arising

from the implementation of the right to education

with the use of artificial intelligence technologies

guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian

Federation. Of course, in this context, we are not

talking about AI as a subject of the constitutional right

to education, the article proposes to consider artificial

intelligence in the following aspects:

1. artificial intelligence as technologies to

improve the learning process

2. artificial intelligence as an object of study

within the educational process.

The normative legal act specifying the

implementation of the constitutional right to

education is the Federal Law of December 29, 2012,

No. 273-FZ “On Education in the Russian

Federation”. Analysis of this law has shown that until

now it does not use the terms "artificial intelligence

technologies", "artificial intelligence systems" and

other phrases formed with the construction of

"artificial intelligence". It contains an article that

establishes the concepts and procedure for the

implementation of educational programs using e-

learning and distance learning technologies.

Thus, the state policy in the field of education

allows the use of such innovative forms of

educational activities as e-learning and distance

technologies. At the same time, e-learning is

understood as the organization of educational

activities using the information contained in

databases and used in the implementation of

educational programs, all kinds of information, and

telecommunication networks that ensure the transfer

of information through communication lines, the

interaction of students and teaching staff.

Distance learning technologies are understood as

educational technologies implemented mainly with

the use of information and telecommunication

networks with indirect (at a distance) interaction

between students and teachers. Simultaneously with

the use of e-learning and distance technologies, the

educational organization undertakes to create an

electronic information and educational environment

that provides certain conditions for high-quality and

barrier-free development of the educational program

by students.

The first practices of introducing e-learning in the

Russian Federation already exist. For example, in

Moscow, MES is actively used - the Moscow

Electronic School. Most educational organizations, in

the face of constraints caused by the 2020 pandemic,

were forced to implement e-learning and distance

learning at an operational and accelerated pace.

However, it is important to understand that this is not

AI yet, but already the first attempt to automate the

educational process. First, it is necessary to provide

each student with a personal digital device, and only

after that "it is possible to obtain a digital educational

footprint and a basic technological foundation for

building individual educational trajectories using

artificial intelligence".

It is easy to note that neither e-learning nor

distance technologies involve artificial intelligence

systems in a broad sense. We believe that electronic

technologies, distance educational technologies, and

artificial intelligence technologies are close but not

identical concepts. The definition of the first two is

contained in the federal law "On Education in the

Russian Federation", and the legal concept of

artificial intelligence for the first time in our state was

formulated in a by-law - Decree of the President of

the Russian Federation of October 10, 2019, No. 490

"On the development of artificial intelligence in the

Russian Federation", later it migrated to Federal Law

No. 123-FZ.

The National Strategy for the Development of

Artificial Intelligence for the Period up to 2030

indicates that the use of AI technologies in the social

sphere contributes to the creation of conditions for

improving the living standards of the population,

including by improving the quality of services in the

Artiﬁcial Intelligence Technologies in Realizing the Right to Education: Sustainable Development Trends and Potential Risks

759

field of education. At the same time, the National

Strategy specifies what is meant by improving the

quality of services in the educational environment.

Namely: adaptation of the educational process to the

needs of students and the needs of the labor market, a

systematic analysis of learning efficiency indicators

to optimize vocational guidance and early

identification of children with outstanding abilities,

automation of knowledge quality assessment, and

analysis of information about learning outcomes. In

the future, these processes will be implemented by

artificial intelligence systems.

Conventionally, the legal conditions for

stimulating the introduction of artificial intelligence

technologies in the field of education include

experimental and innovative activities, the definition

and content of which is enshrined in Article 20 of the

federal law on education. Of course, the purpose of

these activities is focused on the modernization and

development of the education system.

Hypothetically, assuming that modernization and

development are currently not conceived without the

inclusion of artificial intelligence technologies in the

educational process, we can talk about the "hidden

content" of the listed types of activities in the field of

education.

A new project of the Government of the Russian

Federation on the formation of a digital educational

environment can become a serious development in

the implementation of the constitutional right to

education in modern conditions. Its main goal is to

provide free access on the principle of "one window"

for all categories of citizens, including those studying

in educational programs of higher education and

educational programs of additional professional

education, to online courses implemented by various

organizations carrying out educational activities, and

educational platforms.

Noteworthy is not only the formation of a unified

public digital educational environment, stimulated by

the Government of the Russian Federation, but also

for the first time introducing in the regulatory field of

Russia such terms as educational platforms, online

courses, a passport, and examination of an online

course, a personal educational trajectory, a portal and

others reflecting the transformation the right to

education in the context of information and digital

reality.

However, these are only the first steps in the legal

regulation of the use of artificial intelligence

technologies in the implementation of the right to

education.

3.2 Barriers and Risks of Digital

Transformation of Education

Digital transformation processes are becoming a part

of reality today, a modern trend, and cover almost all

social and economic relations. It is no coincidence

that one of the priorities in the development of

Russian education is the creation of a modern and safe

digital educational environment.

It is difficult to dispute the fact that digital

technologies today create and provide a set of

opportunities for improving the quality of education.

However, integrating them into the educational

process is far from an easy task. It is impossible to

achieve high educational results only by providing

educational organizations with new digital

technologies. The digital transformation of education

is possible if the problem of bridging the digital

divide is solved. The digital transformation of the

education industry is a qualitative change in both the

educational process itself and educational activities

based on the development of breakthrough

information technologies. With the help of digital

technologies, it is easier to use new models of

organization and conduct of educational work, which

were not previously used due to the complexity or

impossibility of their implementation through

traditional technologies of interaction and work with

information.

At the same time, the creation of a modern and

safe digital educational environment is associated not

only with the introduction, use, and development of

modern digital information technologies within the

educational process, but also implies the need to study

the emerging legal and organizational barriers to the

introduction and use of such technologies, and is also

associated with a certain kind of risks.

One of such serious barriers to the digital

transformation of education is the digital divide that

appears in all areas where digital technologies are

introduced. Schools and universities are no exception.

At the same time, the emerging digital divide

exacerbates the "traditional" educational inequality

associated with the different cultural and social

capabilities of children belonging to different social

groups. Currently, educational organizations in

Russia are equipped with digital equipment to one

degree or another. However, inequalities in access to

it still persist. At the same time, the availability of

equipment does not mean that it will be actively and

effectively used in the educational process.

Another, no less serious barrier to the introduction

of digital technologies is the access of students to the

Internet. However, its availability often varies

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760

significantly depending on the region of the country,

as well as on the types of settlements. Residents of

medium and large cities generally do not experience

problems with Internet access, which cannot be said

about rural areas. But despite some positive dynamics

that have emerged in the work to connect schools to

the Internet, inequality still persists. Today in the

Russian regions there are still many educational

institutions that do not have access to the Internet.

Thus, measures to create material conditions for the

digital transformation of education should continue.

In addition, high-speed Internet is not available to all

educational organizations today, especially at the

level of general education schools. High-speed

Internet access is a necessary condition not only to be

able to receive additional educational resources from

the Internet but also to provide educational services

that meet the needs of the modern information

society.

The risks associated with the digital

transformation of education seem to be no less

serious.

In its resolution 55/63, the UN General Assembly

expressed concern that technological advances have

created new opportunities for criminal activity, and in

particular for the criminal use of information

technology. The report on the right to education

prepared according to UNGA Human Rights Council

resolution 26/17, covers in some detail the problems

and challenges in the field of the right to education in

the digital age. The report notes that the use of digital

technologies carries the risk of diminishing the

importance of universal values in education and

undermining the quality of education. Digital

technologies negatively affect the function of

education, reducing the ability of students to think

logically and critically, diminishing the importance of

universal values, and paving the way for the

commercialization of education. The misuse of

technology can lead to cyberspace bullying, criminal

activity, and even terrorism. Sexual abuse or sexual

exploitation of minors was identified as the most

serious risk.

Studies on the prospects for the digital

transformation of education in the Russian Federation

also contain a critical analysis of the risks of using

digital technologies in education. In particular, such

negative changes in the development of the brain and

consciousness as "digital dementia" are called, when

cognitive functions of the brain are impaired and its

individual parts are affected. Moreover, experts

associate the worldwide growth of autism with

computer learning. According to the director of the

Center for Geopolitics of the Institute for

Fundamental and Applied Research, Chetverikova,

O.N., the replacement of the physical world with a

virtual digital environment leads to atrophy of certain

parts of the brain, loss of cognitive functions, loss of

thinking skills and inability to concentrate and not

only memorize but even understand what has been

read.

Kasperskaya, N.I., an expert in the field of IT

security, also outlined the main risks of digital

colonization and widespread implementation of such

technologies in all areas of life. A breakthrough in

artificial intelligence, the analysis of "big data" is

associated, in her opinion, with the imposition of

Western technologies, the degradation of one's own

competencies, the loss of basic cognitive

competencies, a decrease in the quality of education,

a reduction in personal contacts, the growth of

conflicts, the "leakage" of talented youth and teachers

abroad, etc.

This is not a complete list of the barriers and risks

of digitalization of education.

Digital transformations of the system of modern

Russian education represent a kind of core around

which new pedagogical innovations and

methodologies should be formed and a qualitative

improvement in the effectiveness of the educational

process should take place. However, at present, the

main problem is the lack of a clear understanding of

the ways to reform the Russian education system.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The problems of digital transformations and the use

of artificial intelligence in the area of realizing the

right to education are widely discussed in the

scientific community.

Zametina, T.V., Kombarova, E.V., Balashova.

E.Yu. consider the introduction of artificial

intelligence as an objective process affecting human

rights, which are the highest value recognized both at

the national and international levels (Zametina et al.,

2020). As a priority, they call the improvement of

state regulation in the field of informing the

population about the possibilities of using artificial

intelligence technologies, the development of the

competence of all citizens in the development of new

forms of interaction with artificial intelligence.

Researchers Keshalava, A.V., Budanov, M.P.,

Rumyantsev, V.Yu. predict a significant impact on

society and the digital economy of mobile, cognitive,

and cloud technologies, Internet of Things, and big

data technologies (Keshelava et al., 2017).

Artiﬁcial Intelligence Technologies in Realizing the Right to Education: Sustainable Development Trends and Potential Risks

761

In a study by Aslam, Abdul Azis Wahab, Purnam

Syae Purrohman, Zulherman, Evi Segaravati Ampri

(Abdul Azis Wahab et al., 2020), of the behavior of

Internet users and social networks in the learning

process, it is noted that the majority of users use the

global network for activities aimed at getting

pleasure, and only after that - for learning. The

authors conclude that learning behavior using social

networks and the Internet is quite positive in the

perception of the younger generation.

In a study by E. Dobrolyubova, O. Alexandrova,

A. Efimova (Dobrolyubova et al., 2017), dedicated to

the prospects of digital transformation, emphasize the

need to remove legal and organizational barriers as a

factor in the success of digital transformation in

certain industries, including education.

The research of Strekalova, N.B. (Strekalova,

2019), in which, along with the positive aspects of the

digitalization of education, possible negative changes

in this area are analyzed (loss of basic cognitive

competencies, a decrease in the general level of

competence, a reduction in the need for an

"intellectual" specialist, high requirements for the

psychological qualities of a specialist, a reduction in

personal contacts, an increase in conflicts, "leakage"

of talented youth and teachers abroad, a reduction in

the contingent of higher education, the loss of the

status of domestic higher education).

5 CONCLUSIONS

The conducted research allows us to draw the

following conclusions.

Artificial intelligence is essential for the

development of educational standards of the future.

At the same time, it is rather early to talk about

artificial intelligence as a subject of educational legal

relations, although algorithms for creating chat bots

for forming and adjusting an individual learning path,

creating textbooks and teaching aids by artificial

intelligence are being actively discussed. Currently,

in the field of education, artificial intelligence is

manifested in two aspects: as a technology for

sustainable development of education and as an

object of study within the educational process.

Analysis of the Federal Law of December 29,

2012, No. 273-FZ "On Education in the Russian

Federation" showed that it does not use the terms

"artificial intelligence technologies", "artificial

intelligence systems" and other phrases formed with

the construction of "artificial intelligence". Despite

the fact that the law contains an article that establishes

the concepts and procedure for the implementation of

educational programs using e-learning and distance

learning technologies, it should be reported that

neither e-learning nor distance technologies involve

artificial intelligence systems in a broad sense.

Despite the progress made, inequalities of

opportunity persist in higher education. Digital

technologies are omnipresent only in principle, in real

life their presence is fragmented due to the existence

of the “digital divide”.

The use of digital technologies carries the risk of

social stratification in society. The use of information

and communication technologies can lead to the

deprivation of educational opportunities, especially

for the disadvantaged population.

Government should take steps to protect children

from online harassment, including bullying or sexual

grooming. Finally, care must be taken to ensure that

children are not involved in illegal activities, financial

schemes, or terrorism.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors express their gratitude to the RFBR for

financial support of scientific research No. 20-011-

00765 "Constitutional and legal mechanisms for the

implementation of social rights and freedoms using

artificial intelligence: problems of legal regulation,

limits, and responsibility", within the framework of

which this article was prepared.

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