Speakers

Keynote Speaker II

Prof. Chiu-Lin Lai

National Taichung University of Education, Taiwan ROC

Title of Speech: The Triple Symbiosis: Cultivating Higher-Order Thinking and Human Agency in the AI Era

Abstract: This keynote proposes a "Triple Symbiosis" framework to examine the interactive and reciprocal relationships among teachers, students, and AI within educational settings. The talk is structured around three practical dimensions. First, from the teachers' perspective, the focus is on translating pedagogical methodologies into AI configuration. It covers how teachers integrate General AI and instructional strategies, and how they embed educational scaffolding theories into prompts to construct custom AI agents. Second, regarding student engagement, the presentation shares the outcomes of a large-scale national initiative in Taiwan, examining how AI-assisted systems support students' self-regulated learning. Furthermore, it discusses the impact of student agency on the effective utilization of AI to achieve higher-order thinking. Finally, this address discusses "Human Resilience" and "Human Agency" within AI-assisted environments. It illustrates how students employ metacognition and self-regulation to foster their academic and personal well-being, thereby directly addressing the core theme of the conference: "AI for Humanity."

Biography: Dr. Chiu-Lin Lai is a Professor in the Bachelor Program of Interdisciplinary Studies at National Taichung University of Education, Taiwan. Her expertise includes technology-enhanced self-regulated learning, artificial intelligence in education, digital learning, mobile and ubiquitous learning, technology-enabled teacher professional development, and learning process and behavior analysis.

She has published more than 96 papers related to digital learning, including 36 SSCI-indexed journal articles. Since 2021, she has been listed among the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Elsevier, and in 2025 she was included in both the career-long and single-year impact lists. She currently serves as Associate Editor of Educational Technology & Society (ET&S).

Dr. Lai is also the principal investigator of several national projects in Taiwan, including initiatives on technology-enhanced self-regulated learning for senior high schools, digital learning enhancement, and digital teaching lecturer communities. Her work aims to advance the meaningful integration of digital technologies and artificial intelligence into teaching, learning, and teacher professional development.

 

 

Keynote Speaker III

Prof. Kiyoshi Kawahara

Takushoku University, Tokyo, Japan

Title of Speech: What AI Can Do Beyond Intelligence: Mediating Self-Care and Mutual Care through Language

Abstract: Recent advances in generative AI have dramatically improved machines' ability to process information, generate language, and solve problems. However, many of the most important human challenges—such as illness, grief, loneliness, anxiety, and interpersonal conflict—cannot be resolved through problem-solving alone. They require dialogue, reflection, meaning-making, and care.

This keynote explores what AI can do beyond intelligence by examining its role in mediating self-care and mutual care through language. Drawing on student survey data and real-life cases, including support for a friend diagnosed with cancer and a colleague experiencing workplace distress, the presentation argues that AI should not be understood as a caregiver, but as a technological mediator supporting human reflection and communication.

The theoretical framework integrates McLuhan's media theory, Don Ihde's technological mediation, care ethics, and meaning-making theory. Rather than asking whether AI can replace human care, the keynote examines how AI reshapes human engagement through language and pragmatics.

The presentation also addresses the ethical challenges of digital colonialism. As AI increasingly standardizes communication and problem-solving, culturally diverse ways of caring may also become standardized. Such digital colonialism may become self-colonialism as users internalize AI's communicative norms.

The keynote concludes by proposing a care-oriented AI literacy that enables people to engage critically with AI while preserving cultural diversity, human presence, and the uniquely human capacity to create meaning and care for one another. Ultimately, the future of AI depends not only on advances in intelligence, but also on our capacity to cultivate human understanding, self-care, and mutual care in an AI-mediated world.

Biography: Dr. Kiyoshi Kawahara (KAWAHARA, Kiyoshi) is Professor in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Takushoku University and Chair of English Education in the Graduate School of Language Education. His areas of specialization include Interpreting and Translation Studies, Cognitive Linguistics, and Language Education. He previously served as President of the Japan Association for Interpreting and Translation Studies and as Vice President of the Japan Association for Media English Studies. He has long been engaged in advancing language education research grounded in the theories and practices of interpreting and translation.

In recent years, his research has focused on models of language proficiency development based on interpreting and translation studies, exploring the potential of language education utilizing machine translation and artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, he has been working on both the practice and theorization of educational approaches that position generative AI as a tool for learning support and reflective practice, fostering learners' autonomous thinking and meaning-making.

In addition, drawing on his practical background as a Buddhist priest, he conducts interdisciplinary research on the relationship between language communication and care of the mind from a humanistic perspective that integrates spiritual care, philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, and clinical psychology. Based on this body of research, he has presented at academic conferences and delivered invited lectures at international seminars in Japan and abroad in the fields of English and Japanese language education, as well as interpreting and translation education. He is expected to acquire his second PhD on applied religious studies this year. His publications include Rethinking Translation Equivalence: Language, Society, and Thought in Translation, and co-authored works such as An Introduction to Media English Studies and An Accessible Guide to Translation and Interpreting Studies. His current research explores language as a medium of meaning-making, self-care, and mutual care in the age of artificial intelligence.