Integrasi Kecerdasan Buatan dalam Pendidikan Pesantren: Peluang, Tantangan, dan Penguatan Bahasa Arab serta Karakter Santri

Abstract

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has begun to reshape the landscape of Islamic boarding school (pesantren) education, an institution historically anchored in oral transmission, direct guidance from kyai, and strong communal discipline. This article examines the opportunities and challenges of integrating AI-based technologies into pesantren education and proposes strategies for maintaining santri character formation amid digital transformation. Using a qualitative literature review approach, this study analyzes recent scholarly works published between 2020 and 2025 concerning AI adoption in Islamic education. The findings indicate that AI offers meaningful opportunities such as personalized learning, digital assistance in memorizing the Quran and hadith, support for Arabic language learning (nahwu, sharaf, and reading of classical texts), and administrative efficiency for pesantren management. However, significant challenges remain, including unequal digital infrastructure, limited technological literacy among ustadz, and concerns over authenticity of religious knowledge when mediated by machine-generated content. The discussion highlights that character formation in pesantren cannot be fully delegated to technology, since moral and spiritual guidance depends on direct human relationships between kyai and santri. This article concludes that AI should be positioned as a complementary tool rather than a substitute for the pesantren's core pedagogical values, and that a locally rooted, values-based framework for AI adoption is necessary to preserve the identity of pesantren education in the digital era.