With the central theme “Individual, Collective, and Artificial Intelligences: All Within Us, Right Now! When They Engage in Dialogue, Education Is Transformed,” Bett Brasil—Latin America’s largest event for Innovation and Technology in Education—reaches its 31st edition, May 5–8, 2026, at Expo Center Norte in São Paulo. Registration is now open and can be completed here.

To explore this overarching theme in greater depth, the Bett Blog has prepared a series of four articles dedicated to the subtopics that form the framework of the event’s program. This article will address the theme “InteligêncIA – Artificial Intelligence,” which explores the ethical and practical application of artificial intelligence in education. It covers intelligent agents, Physical AI, digital literacy, personalized learning, and the pedagogical use of digital platforms.

It also explores the debate surrounding algorithms, social media, and data, showing how AI can support teaching practices, transform the classroom, and generate new educational business models.

Artificial intelligence has established itself as one of the defining forces of the 21st century, but its integration into the field of education requires something that goes far beyond simply mastering tools: it requires critical thinking, a systemic perspective, and social responsibility.

For FIAP’s vice president for academic affairs and Bett Brasil advisor, Professor Dr. Wagner Sanchez, AI is not just a tool, but “a new cognitive environment” capable of reshaping the way we think, learn, and interact with knowledge. Therefore, by approaching AI with a critical and mindful understanding, he argues, schools are potentially redefining the role of education in the Intelligent Age.

Sanchez argues that generative AI enhances human capabilities by fostering creativity, problem-solving, and personalized learning, but it also poses new challenges in terms of governance, ethical reflection, and digital curation. “Rather than just teaching people how to use the technology, we need to teach them how to engage with it,” he argues.

Wagner Sanchez explains the importance of the responsible use of AI in the education sector. Photo: Courtesy

The training of educators, therefore, must include what the professor calls “AI literacy”—a form of literacy that enables people to understand, use, and question intelligent systems.

“When schools take on this role, they cease to be mere transmitters of content and become spaces for digital awareness and ethical education,” he says. For Sanchez, this movement prepares citizens to engage with technology in a critical, productive, and humane way.

This analysis is echoed by Guilherme Cintra, Director of Innovation and Technology at the Lemann Foundation and a board member of Bett Brasil. In his view, schools have a responsibility to keep pace with the times, and ignoring artificial intelligence would mean failing to understand an essential aspect of contemporary life.

“Technology is present in basically everything. To neglect to address it is to neglect to discuss a fundamental aspect of how knowledge is produced today, for example,” he explains. He points out that, with the rise of generative AI, students have suddenly begun interacting with intelligent systems, and this makes it even more urgent for schools to provide critical and safe guidance.

Guilherme Cintra emphasizes that we need to take an educational approach to integrating AI. Photo: Reproduced.

Cintra notes that the uncritical use of AI can hinder the development of important cognitive skills, as students run the risk of outsourcing their reasoning to the machine. “Another point to be aware of is that algorithms carry biases derived from the data they were trained on and the information base behind these models,” he says.

He also highlights the risk of widening inequalities, since innovative technologies tend to be adopted first by groups with greater access to equipment, connectivity, and training. “Without coordinated public policies, AI could widen educational inequalities, even though it has the potential to reduce them.”

AI as a Tool for Inclusion

Sanchez emphasizes that AI will only be truly transformative if it is “inclusive by design.” “This means developing skills at all levels—managers, teachers, and students—that combine technology and humanity,” he says. He highlights four central pillars:

• Critical digital literacy: understanding how algorithms work, what data they use, and how they influence educational and social decisions.
• Enhanced creativity: using AI as a partner in the creative process and in solving complex problems.
• Ethics and Algorithmic Governance: Assessing Impacts, Recognizing Biases, and Applying Principles of Equity in Intelligent Systems.
• Technological empathy: understanding that AI is most powerful when it supports human diversity and different ways of learning.

In the professor’s view, these competencies are reinforced through continuing education initiatives, real-world projects focused on personalized learning, data governance policies, and transparency in the use of digital platforms.

“AI can be the greatest ally of inclusion if it is used to amplify voices rather than silence them. When integrated with an educational purpose, it does not replace the teacher, but rather enhances the act of teaching, making it more human, sensitive, and intelligent,” he says.

See also:

• Bett Brasil 2026 invites reflection on the dialogue between individual, collective, and artificial intelligence
• HumaNÓS and the Power of Collaboration: When School Becomes a Collective

In terms of the curriculum, Cintra points out that Brazil is already moving forward with the National Common Core Curriculum for Computing, which could be expanded to include AI-related skills. He states that it is not necessary to create an entirely new course, but rather to develop a coherent curriculum that integrates the subject horizontally or vertically, depending on the specific circumstances of each school district.

The key, he says, is to ensure alignment between local policies and national guidelines. “We need to think about the integration of AI from a pedagogical perspective, not just from a technical standpoint within the school system,” he adds.

The transition to the Intelligent Age, as the advisors point out, is first and foremost a cultural one. It requires preparing teachers to guide students in an environment permeated by algorithms, platforms, and intelligent agents, and preparing the students themselves to be active participants in this process—not merely consumers of automated responses.

By bringing these discussions together, the “InteligêncIA” subtheme of Bett Brasil 2026 highlights a path forward: artificial intelligence does not transform education on its own, but it enhances transformation when integrated with purpose, equity, and a human-centered vision.

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