This paper examines three critical dimensions of AI’s transformative impact on cognition and education. First, it interrogates the notion that AI serves as a foundational cognitive a priori, restructuring learning through hybrid human–AI collaboration. It further questions whether this alters education’s essence embedded in Western and Eastern cultural traditions or merely its mechanisms. Second, it reframes prompting as an ontological practice of co-becoming in human–AI epistemic partnerships. It further raises questions about AI’s ethical responsibility in knowledge co-creation and its participatory ethical influence as interactive agency. Third, it highlights the praxis gap in critical AI literacy, emphasizing the need to move beyond theoretical calls for resistance to practical, context-specific implementations. It also warns against overly broad categorizations like the “Global South” that may overlook essential varieties. Together, these dimensions encourage us to move past the limited paradigms of instrumentalist (AI as a tool) and deterministic (humans as passive subjects). It advocates a reimagination of human agency, ethical frameworks, and grounded critical literacies for shared responsibility in human–AI cognitive collaboration.