https://doi.org/10.36253/jep-20884
The hundred languages in the age of AI. Generative educational pathways between humanity and technology: 0-99 model for lifelong learning
Abstract. Artificial intelligence is profoundly transforming the learning ecosystem, reshaping access to knowledge, the nature of educational relationships, and the processes through which understanding is constructed. This paper proposes a longitudinal “0-99” educational model grounded in the legacy of the hundred languages of the Reggio Children Approach, in the Socratic method of questioning, and in the idea of AI as a cognitive partner. The model identifies, for each stage of life – from early childhood to primary education, adolescence and young adulthood, and into mature adulthood – the languages to be cultivated in the age of AI and the competencies required for informed, critical, and creative citizenship. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, the paper examines both the opportunities and the risks associated with AI, highlighting the need for clear educational policies, inclusive digital infrastructures, and widespread training initiatives. The result is a proposal for a new humanism of learning, in which AI becomes a lever for expanding human languages rather than replacing them, supporting each person across the entire life span.
Contents
1. Introduction: AI as a New Learning Ecosystem
2. Foundational Principles of the 0-99 Educational Model
3. The 0-99 Model: A Continuous Journey of Evolving Languages
3.1. Early Childhood (0–6): The Languages of Exploration
3.2. Primary Education (6–14): The Languages of Discovery and Logical Thought
3.3. Adolescence and Young Adulthood (14–24): The Languages of Identity and Orientation
3.4. Adulthood and Later Life (25–99): The Languages of Transformation
4. Governing the AI Transition: An Educational and Territorial Responsibility
5. Conclusion: A New Humanism of Learning
1. Introduction: AI as a New Learning Ecosystem
Artificial intelligence has not entered the educational world as a simple tool to be added to traditional methods. It has entered as an environment, a cognitive ecosystem that is transforming the way children, young people, and adults explore reality, construct meanings, formulate questions, and make decisions. Few transitions in the history of education have been so profound: we are not merely updating the technologies of learning, but reshaping the architecture of human learning itself.
In this new context, the crucial question is not whether to adopt AI, but how to do so in a conscious, responsible, and human-centred way. This is where the Italian pedagogical tradition – particularly the Reggio Children Approach and Loris Malaguzzi’s intuition of the “hundred languages” – reveals its surprising relevance.
The multiplicity of children’s languages is not only a principle of early childhood education; it has become an interpretative key for the entire educational trajectory in the age of AI.
This insight forms the basis of the 0-99 educational model, a longitudinal vision that spans the entire life course and proposes a new humanism of learning: a continuous path capable of combining human expressiveness with the potential of artificial intelligence
2. Foundational Principles of the 0-99 Educational Model
At the core of the model lies the conviction that every individual possesses a vast repertoire of languages – corporeal, symbolic, narrative, mathematical, relational, digital – which education should cultivate and allow to evolve rather than reduce. AI can contribute to this growth, but only if its use reflects a vision of the human being as plural, creative, and relational.
A second pillar is the Socratic method. In an era in which every answer seems instantly available, the true educational value shifts back to the quality of the question. AI, when used correctly, can become a catalyst for inquiry and a promoter of critical thinking: a kind of “Socratic companion” that supports human understanding.
Finally, the triad “educating with, within, and beyond AI” outlines the boundaries of contemporary learning. Educating with AI means integrating intelligent tools into learning pathways; educating within AI means recognising that we live inside a cognitive and cultural environment deeply shaped by algorithms; educating beyond AI means cultivating the inherently human dimensions – critical thinking, creativity, responsibility – that no technology will ever replace.
3. The 0-99 Model: A Continuous Journey of Evolving Languages
3.1. Early Childhood (0–6): The Languages of Exploration
Early childhood remains the essential point of departure. In educational settings inspired by Reggio Emilia, children do not express themselves through a single language, but through many: the body, light, colour, movement, voice, objects, space, and relationships. AI enters this world as an additional material – not to guide, but to be explored, observed, and manipulated. Augmented ateliers, interactive projections, and responsive digital tools allow children to see their gestures transformed into shapes, traces, images, and sounds. In this way, AI expands expressive possibilities without diminishing the spontaneity of the age.
3.2. Primary Education (6–14): The Languages of Discovery and Logical Thought
As children grow, new languages emerge that AI can support and enhance. Mathematical, scientific, linguistic, and artistic languages begin to intertwine with digital skills and critical literacy. AI, in its simplest forms, can become a training ground for reasoning: a dialogic environment in which to test hypotheses, identify errors, and assess the quality of information.
This is also the age in which AI can truly become Socratic – an instrument that invites doubt, fosters understanding, and prompts explanation, turning each interaction into an exercise in critical inquiry.
3.3. Adolescence and Young Adulthood (14–24): The Languages of Identity and Orientation
During adolescence, the relationship with AI becomes more complex and reflective. New languages emerge: argumentation, debate, design, project-based thinking, and advanced STEM competencies. AI is no longer just a tool, but a cognitive workspace – a partner with which to design, simulate scenarios, visualise data, and build hypotheses.
This is also the phase of personal and professional orientation. AI can offer personalised pathways, suggest directions, help individuals identify their strengths, understand the labour market, and imagine future trajectories – not by deciding for them, but by helping them make better choices.
3.4. Adulthood and Later Life (25–99): The Languages of Transformation
The final segment of the 0-99 model concerns adults and older adults. Never before has a pedagogy of transformation been so necessary – one capable of supporting professional reskilling, career transitions, and new forms of digital citizenship. The languages of adulthood are professional, analytical, collaborative, and civic. AI can become a “cognitive trainer,” a support for managing complexity, and an ally in maintaining cognitive vitality and autonomy.
At this stage, learning serves not only to work, but to live: to remain active members of society, to understand technological risks and opportunities, and to continue growing.
4. Governing the AI Transition: An Educational and Territorial Responsibility
AI can expand languages, but it can also compress them. It can include or exclude. It can liberate or constrain. For this reason, clear educational policies are essential: a national pedagogical framework for AI, competence standards for each stage of life, accessible digital infrastructures across all territories, and ambitious teacher-training
programmes. Without these conditions, territorial inequalities may widen, and AI risks becoming a factor of exclusion rather than social advancement.
5. Conclusion: A New Humanism of Learning
AI compels us to rethink education not as a segment of life, but as life itself. The hundred languages remind us that every person carries inexhaustible possibilities; the 0-99 model suggests that these possibilities must be nurtured throughout the entire lifespan. If guided by a humanistic vision, AI can restore depth, power, and beauty to the way we learn.
In the future that awaits us, it will not be AI that makes the difference, but the way we educate people to engage in dialogue with it. Because in a world where everything changes, the only truly irreplaceable competence will always be the ability to keep asking the right questions.