Artificial Intelligence as a Mediational Tool: Reinterpreting Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development in AI-Assisted Learning

Abstract

Abstract: This study deliberately and critically explores the integration of Artificial Intelligence within educational field through the lens of socio-cultural theory by Lev Vygotsky. This study has given special focus on the Zone of Proximal Development or ZPD. It tries to evident AI as a mediational tool that redesigns scaffolding, learner regulation, feedback and extends the scope of the ZPD beyond traditional human interactions model. The research explores how AI supports learners in tasks they cannot complete inde-pendently but can achieve with guided support through adaptive algorithmic scaffolding and feedback. By imagining Vygotskian principles with AI-driven educational tools in contemporary world the study emphasizes AI and its role in promoting cognitive development while taking care of its limitations in terms of ethical judgment and cultural intentionality. A socio-technological framework is proposed that integrates human mediation, assistance of AI, and learner agency within a dynamic ZPD.