Power and marginalization in discourse on AI in education (AIEd): social actors’ representation in China Daily (2018–2023)

Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIEd) has the potential to transform educational practice, and its media representation both reflects and reshapes public perceptions of this new technology. While interest in AIEd is growing worldwide, not all social actors are represented equally. Moreover, limited media coverage contributes to a scarcity of studies on AIEd media representations. This study examines how social actors are represented in AIEd discourses in China Daily (2018–2023), using 100 news articles selected through stratified proportional sampling in Nexis Uni to ensure balanced coverage across all years. Employing intertextuality analysis and social actor theory, the results show that government and corporate voices dominate, while public perspectives are marginalized. Discursive strategies, including objectivation, functionalization, and activation, construct a hierarchical collaboration, where government actors are activated to emphasize leadership, and corporate actors are functionalized as enabler to state-defined goals. Intertextuality analysis highlights co-occurrence between corporate and parental discourses, which risks prioritizing commercial interests over educational equity. This alignment weakened after 2021, reflecting a shift in government efforts to regulate educational commercialization. These findings show a hierarchical power dynamic in AIEd discourses, where government actors dominate and corporate actors subordinate, while public voices are marginalized. This framing prioritizes the institutional corporate and state interests, and limits inclusivity and diversity. This study advances the understanding of AIEd media discourses in a context distinct from Western-centric perspectives. By unpacking the imbalanced representations of social actors, this study uncovers the underlying power dynamics and ideologies in AIEd discourse. It encourages policymakers, educators, and media professionals to address equity and inclusion in media representations.