AI and critical thinking come together at a SENA academic event in San Andrés: the underlying question is what to teach

By SENA · October 26, 2026.

SENA (Colombia's National Learning Service) has held an academic gathering in San Andrés that, according to the headline from its newsroom, put artificial intelligence and critical thinking front and center. The material we have had access to consists only of that headline and the feed description. We do not have the content of the release, so we cannot detail the program, the speakers, attendance figures or the conclusions.

We therefore confine ourselves to what can be verified: a public vocational training institution has brought these two concepts together in the same event. That combination already says something.

Our reading: pairing AI with critical thinking is the right approach for education. A student who uses a model as a shortcut risks accepting answers that are plausible but wrong. One who learns to question them, cross-check them and decide what to ask for turns the tool into leverage. As industry context, educational institutions are generally moving from banning AI to teaching people to use it with discernment.

In the short term, the labor transition will be tough and will favor those who know how to evaluate what a machine produces. In the long term, that same skill is what will allow people to devote themselves to what they are truly passionate about in an economy of abundance. That a technical training center is addressing this on an island in the Colombian Caribbean, and not just in the capitals, is a good sign that the conversation is being democratized.

When the institution publishes more detail about the gathering, we will be able to assess whether there were concrete proposals or merely a statement of intent.