Policy analysis of artificial intelligence in social science research at higher education institutions: problems and possibilities

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• Semantic Scholar2026-08-05 07:15:58
  Policy analysis of artificial intelligence in social science research at higher education institutions: problems and possibilities

  The rapidly growing landscape of artificial intelligence and its integration in higher educational institutions of India from 2022 compelled us to cautiously analyse the changing dynamics of social science education per se. Most higher education institutions in India now allow students and researchers to use artificial intelligence. India is known as a talent superpower and according to the Stanford AI Presentation Index, it ranks first in skill penetration related to artificial intelligence. In the 2025–26 budget, India committed ₹500 crore to establish Centres of Excellence in education, marking a strategic investment to elevate academic innovation and infrastructure. Additionally, India's National Education Policy 2020 (Ministry of Human Resource Development, 2020) focuses on promoting AI and technological innovation. Given the intense push to promote technology and artificial intelligence in education, this research paper aims to analyse and evaluate the different policies impacting the usage of artificial intelligence in social science research at higher education institutions in India. The method is based on evaluating the textual content of documents by using human coding. The limitation of this research is that it is based on scanning textual documents and is limited to understanding the usage of AI in teaching and learning for the social science stream. In this process, it aims to deploy critical technology studies with the digital ethics framework. As a result of analysing the policy texts, we find that AI's invisibility is the major issue. Algorithmic bias, trained on historical data reflecting caste, class, religion, region, race and gender disparities, and plagiarism via generative tools erodes authors' dignity. Many of the detection tools are neither precise nor dependable in detecting AI usage and misuse. As educators, it is of urgent necessity to prioritise pedagogy that values human creativity, integrity and judgment. Similarly, too much dependence of Gen-Z learners on AI erodes critical thinking. This violates NEP 2020's vision of balancing innovation with ethical safeguards. Present mechanisms to regulate and monitor AI usage in higher education and in the country are fragmented and indirect. With AI deployment occurring at such a massive scale, establishing a robust India-centric regulatory framework to govern its use is no longer optional but essential.