Oak National Academy’s Aila, Education AI Companies and the Anthropomorphising of AI

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education is becoming incr easingly pr evalent, with educational AI companies employing diverse marketing strategies to engage educators. This paper investigates the extent to which these companies utilise anthr opomorphic language on their websites as part of their communication, focusing on how such language shapes per ceptions and expectations among educators. The r esear ch centr es ar ound Aila, an AI tool developed by Oak National Academy and endorsed by the Department for Education (DfE) in 2025, alongside four pr ominent private education AI companies. Using the Anthr oScor e tool, which quantifies anthr opomorphic language, the paper r eveals that all examined companies employ varying degr ees of anthr opo - morphism in their external communications. While such language can foster engagement and encourage adoption, it raises critical ethical ques - tions r egar ding the potential for misleading users about the capabilities and limitations of AI. The findings underscor e the importance of transpar ent communication, particularly in light of the DfE’ s endorsement of Aila, which legitimises the use of AI in educational settings. This paper calls for a movement away fr om the use of anthr opomorphism of educative AI tools and instead asks how AI developers can market AI as a co-cr eator of knowledge to expand the boundaries of co-agentic inquiry . Keywor ds: anthr opomorphismeducationAI (artificial intelligence)marketing 1. I NTRODUCTION In recent years, the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has prompted a profound shift to a more algorithmic society (Shankar , 2018 ) across various sectors, notably in education (Adel, 2024 ; Liu et al ., 2020 ; Y adav and Shrawankar , 2025 ). As educators and institutions increasingly integrate technologies such as AI into their teaching and learning frameworks (Laura and Hannam, 2018 ), the discourse surrounding these technologies has also evolved. One intriguing aspect of this discourse is the phenomenon of anthro - pomorphising technology (Duf fy , 2003 ) whereby human traits, emotions, and intentions are attributed to non-human entities – of