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Article History

Received: 14 October 2025

Accepted: 21 April 2026

First Online: 24 May 2026

Statements and Declarations

: The author thanks the research participants, the editor, and the journal reviewers for their time and valuable insights. She is grateful to the British Educational Research Association (BERA) forfunding the research project on which this article is based [grant reference number: ERASGA2023Gupta]. This research received approval from the University of Southampton's Ethics committee [reference number: 87631] prior to fieldwork. The author declares that there are no competing interests.

: Curmudgeon Corner is a short opinionated column on trends in technology, arts, science and society, commenting on issues of concern to the research community and wider society. Whilst the drive for super-human intelligence promotes potential benefits to wider society, it also raises deep concerns of existential risk, thereby highlighting the need for an ongoing conversation between technology and society. At the core of Curmudgeon concern is the question: What is it to be human in the age of the AI machine? -Editor.