The Evolving Landscape of Artificial Intelligence In Education: A Systematic Literature Review (2021–2026)

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education is fundamentally to facilitate the personalized learning experience. By leveraging data-driven insights, AI tools can help identifying a student’s specific knowledge gaps in real-time and provide tailored resources, allowing them to progress at their own pace. This systematic literature review examines the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in educational contexts, focusing on developments between 2021 and 2026. Following the PRISMA guidelines, this study analyzes the transition from basic chatbot applications to complex Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems and agentic AI. Key themes identified include the impact on critical thinking (cognitive offloading), the evolution of teacher competencies through the Intelligent-TPACK framework, and the ethical implications of AI-assisted academic writing. The results suggest that while AI offers significant opportunities for personalized learning and administrative efficiency, it poses risks of "metacognitive laziness" and requires a fundamental reconstruction of the teacher's role.