Social-Emotional Learning and Intercultural Competence in the Age of Generative AI

About this Research Topic

Background

The rapid emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping education, offering powerful opportunities to enhance Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and Intercultural Competence (IC) and learning. Interactive GenAI tools such as conversational agents, gamified simulations, and virtual role-play can provide learners with safe environments for practicing perspective-taking, empathy, and collaborative problem-solving. These innovations show promise for building resilience, social awareness, and intercultural understanding in diverse classrooms. At the same time, concerns are mounting about the risks of overreliance on AI. While GenAI can simulate social responses, it cannot reproduce the depth and authenticity of human relationships. In this context, intercultural dialogue and learning is being challenged as these tools may reduce opportunities for genuine interpersonal and intercultural dialogue and critical understanding of culture and society. The dual potential of GenAI, positioning it as both a catalyst and a constraint to human interaction and learning, highlights the need to examine its relation to social-emotional and intercultural learning and the development of competencies for democratic culture. It also highlights how educators can responsibly balance innovation with authentic human connections in culturally diverse and globally oriented contexts.

This Research Topic seeks to critically investigate how GenAI is shaping learners’ social-emotional and intercultural development. On one hand, AI-driven platforms can scaffold communication, foster perspective-taking, and strengthen empathy. On the other, they risk displacing authentic human interaction and narrowing opportunities for genuine socio-emotional growth. The central challenge is to identify how GenAI can support, rather than undermine, SEL and IC across diverse educational contexts.

The goal is to gather empirical studies, conceptual frameworks, and applied practices that illuminate the conditions under which GenAI enhances human connection and intercultural understanding. Contributions may address design principles for AI tools, pedagogical frameworks that integrate AI while safeguarding authentic interaction, or ethical and policy considerations for equitable implementation. By synthesizing global perspectives, this collection aims to advance both scholarship and practice, offering educators and policymakers evidence-based insights into how GenAI can be responsibly harnessed to foster inclusive, empathetic, and interculturally competent learning environments.

This Research Topic welcomes interdisciplinary contributions examining the intersection of GenAI, SEL, and IC. Relevant themes include:

• Theoretical and empirical studies on GenAI’s role in socio-emotional and intercultural development.

• Pedagogical models for integrating AI into classrooms and informal learning.

• Risks, ethical concerns, and unintended consequences of AI-mediated social interactions.

• Cross-cultural and comparative perspectives on AI in education.

• Institutional and policy approaches to equitable access and responsible implementation.

We invite original research articles, systematic reviews, theoretical and conceptual analyses, perspectives, and case studies. Manuscripts should critically explore both opportunities and risks, highlighting innovative practices as well as challenges. This collection aims to provide a nuanced, globally informed understanding of how GenAI can be leveraged to strengthen SEL and IC while safeguarding the authenticity of human connection in education.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), Intercultural Competence (IC), Intercultural learning, GenAI in Education, Empathy and Human Interaction, Global citizenship

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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