The Myth of Authentic Authorship

The reaction to AI in education has been framed largely as a matter of ethics, with institutions invoking concepts like honesty, integrity, and authenticity. Yet moral discourse does not emerge in a vacuum. It often functions as a strategy for preserving authority at moments when established systems feel threatened. The language of virtue can be a tool for reinforcing existing hierarchies, allowing those in power to mask self-interest as moral necessity. Understanding the current AI debate requires seeing it not only as a pedagogical question but also as a contest over who gets to define the rules, enforce compliance, and decide what counts as legitimate knowledge production.