Artificial Intelligence and Cultural Hyper‐Verticality: The Risk of Dogmatic Knowledge in the Era of Critical Regression

ABSTRACT Sociological research emphasises that hiper‐verticality is not only an educational phenomenon, but also a social fact that affects the production of identities. Students are increasingly viewed as “skills carriers” rather than as individuals in training and A.I. contributions to normalising this shift, rendering the cultural and political choices that underpin it invisible. In this context, AI does not merely support learning, but actively participates in defining what counts as legitimate knowledge. Although hyper‐vertical pathways enhanced by AI tend to favour those who already possess high cultural capital, capable of integrating technical skills and overview, while for others they translate into rigid trajectories, difficult to reverse, which limit cognitive and social mobility.