Education Technology Society Agentic AI and education
6 snips
Jan 27, 2026 
Carlo Perrotta, researcher on education, platforms and AI, explores the surge around agentic AI and its limits. He critiques claims of fully autonomous agents and the performance of automation. He discusses hidden labour, industry hype, policy pitfalls and wider social anxieties about AI.
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Autonomy Masks Hidden Labour
- Generative AI's rise exposed tensions between promised autonomy and hidden user labour extraction.
- Carlo Perrotta warns tools require human effort to appear smooth, reproducing platform extraction dynamics.
Sudden Co-optation After ChatGPT
- Carlo describes being co-opted into urgent institutional work after ChatGPT's release.
- He spent significant labour answering emergencies and reshaping routines at his university.
Transhuman Hype Distracts From Real Harms
- Critical STS scholars already provide durable frameworks for understanding AI controversies.
- Perrotta says transhumanist narratives distract from extraction, labour and environmental harms.