4: A Dialogic Framework for Synthetic Intelligence Available to Purchase

Synthetic intelligence, as developed in earlier chapters, is not a property of humans alone or of machines alone. It is the emergent intelligence of a relationship – a patterned, evolving conversation among humans, artificial intelligence (AI) systems, tasks, and contexts. In practice, that relationship is enacted turn by turn, question by question, and response by response. Put simply: the engine of synthetic intelligence is dialogue.

This chapter develops a dialogic framework for synthetic intelligence in education. It has four aims. First, it traces the philosophical and educational roots of dialogue as a way of knowing, from Socratic questioning to contemporary dialogic pedagogy. Second, it proposes a set of dialogic components that clarify what humans and AI each contribute to conversation-as-learning. Third, it explores the art and science of dialogue in an AI age, highlighting prompting approaches and Socratic inquiry as techniques for orchestrating productive human–AI exchanges. Finally, it illustrates the framework through current applications, including Google Gemini’s Guided Learning and OpenAI ChatGPT’s Study Mode, as well as emerging classroom use cases that treat AI as a dialogic partner rather than a shortcut or a surveillance tool.