Can interacting with AI constitute an educational relationship?

The rapid diffusion of AI agents raises an urgent question for pedagogy and theology alike: can interaction with artificial intelligence constitute a genuine educational relationship? Grounded in a personalist pedagogical perspective and enriched by theological reflection on the human person, it identifies the irreducible conditions of the educational relationship – embodied presence, vulnerability, freedom, and intentionality – and demonstrates why no artificial system is capable of fulfilling them. The encounter between educator and learner is not an exchange of information but a transformative event: embodiment and the irreducible otherness of the other constitute its irreplaceable foundation. Equally, the integration of rational and affective-intuitive intelligence remains an exclusively human prerogative, inaccessible to any algorithm. The article closes with an invitation to critical discernment: acknowledging what AI can support, while safeguarding what only human presence can offer.