Generative Artificial Intelligence as a Transformative Catalyst for a Learning Paradigm Shift

The rapid integration of Generative AI (Gen AI) into education has raised fundamental questions about its influence on learning, prompting debate on whether it represents a new learning paradigm. This inquiry exploration contributes to the discussion on whether the unique dynamics of learning with Gen AI implies a new learning paradigm. By establishing the criteria for a paradigm shift, we analyzed the anomalies that Gen AI creates for established traditional paradigms (i.e., Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism) demonstrating their insufficiency to explain the dynamics of the human learning with Gen AI. Hence, we propose and formally define a new paradigm in which learning is understood as a distributed process enacted through a human engagement with Gen AI-artifact system. In this model, the learner acts as an orchestrator, guiding iterative sequence of prompting, generation, critique, and refinement. The new paradigm will provide educators and researchers with a coherent conceptual language to design and study learning in the age of Gen AI. The study concludes by outlining verifiable suggestions to guide future empirical validation of this new paradigm.