ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the book, outlining the central aim of examining the relationships between artificial intelligence (AI) and education in China, and introducing the two main theoretical concepts that guide the analytical approach. Firstly, sociotechnical imaginaries, offering methods that can examine future visions of technology and account for the ways they shape social order. Secondly, political and social history, which can reveal important precedents for contemporary phenomena, suggest underlying contexts through which specific visions of the future can be better understood, and reveal hidden histories often erased by the discourses and imaginings of AI. An outline of each subsequent chapter is also provided, thus introducing the central themes and analytical foci of the book: government policy and strategy for AI; commercial development in the private sector; urban and rural dynamics across China; the development of AI expertise through education; and the production of ‘personalising’ and ‘adaptive’ AI software for education.
