In an age where AI systems produce content and analysis with increasing fluency and surprising proficiency, there exists a growing cognitive offloading crisis in which learners feel they can easily outsource their thinking and critical judgement skills to such systems. In the face of this crisis, it is essential to cultivate a generation of learners who refuse to externalize their creative and critical thinking skills and reclaim the slow, intentional work of reasoning, imagining and judging.
The 2026 edition of the UNESCO ICT in Education Prize aimed to surface and amplify innovative best practices demonstrating how teachers and learners are engaging with AI systems in ways that encourage critical thinking, creativity and imagination.
The two laureates were selected from over 100 nominations submitted by UNESCO Member States and organizations in official partnership with UNESCO. An independent international jury of digital technology in education experts recognized the two projects for their excellence in using digital technologies.
The Award Ceremony of the Prize took place on 9 September 2026 during UNESCO’s flagship Digital Learning Week at its Paris headquarters, held under the theme “Education in the age of AI: Facts | Frictions | Frontiers”.
“Generation AI”, Finland
Launched in 2022, “Generation AI” is an AI education programme jointly developed by the University of Eastern Finland, the University of Helsinki and the University of Oulu and other stakeholders. The initiative provides a series of evidence-based tools, materials and classroom activities which support learners to move from being passive users of AI to becoming individuals and collectives who can critically and creatively shape AI systems.
Foregrounding learner voice and agency, “Generation AI” uses inquiry- and co-design-based pedagogies that emphasize learners as active makers, investigators and future shapers of AI systems. With materials that have been accessed more than 200,000 times across over 50 countries and a series of workshops and school interventions involving 1,500 students and teachers, the project has demonstrated a positive impact on students’ scientific reasoning and ethical reflection about AI and digital media and their ability to discern, explain and critique sophisticated aspects of AI systems, as well as envision alternatives.
