As the Final Whistle Blows

by: Fuat Ramazanov

As the FIFA World Cup comes to an end, I have been thinking about more than just football. Like millions of people around the world, I watched many of the matches on television and followed the tournament closely. I even had the opportunity to attend a live match in Vancouver. One thing that stood out to me was how seamlessly technology has become part of the game.

The use of technology in sport – and in football in particular – is not new. What has changed is that technology has become an expected part of elite football. Today, fans expect referees to use the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), Semi-automated Offside Technology (SAOT), and even a ball equipped with a built-in sensor. These technologies help officials make more accurate decisions and improve the fairness of the game. Although VAR continues to generate debate, most discussions now focus on how these technologies are used and whether the final decisions are correct, rather than whether technology belongs in the game at all.

My Photo from the Australia vs. Türkiye Match in Vancouver, Canada

This made me think about postplagiarism. In my scholarship (Ramazanov, 2026), I argued that postplagiarism is not only about writing. The framework can extend to creative, problem-solving, and decision-making tasks. As new technologies become part of our everyday lives, we need new ways to understand how humans and technology work together.

I have come to see postplagiarism as a framework that responds to the divergence created by rapidly expanding technological possibilities with a corresponding convergence of human judgment, ethics, and accountability. As capabilities and other technologies continue to diverge into new domains, humans are challenged to redefine, not abandon their role. This convergence invites us to rethink long-established concepts such as plagiarism, authorship, creativity, collaboration, expertise, and perhaps even intelligence itself. While technology can generate information, humans must still interpret that information, make decisions, and take responsibility for the outcomes.

The World Cup is a good example of this. Technology did not replace the referee. Instead, it became part of the referee’s work. Technological tools track players, cameras capture every movement, the match ball transmits data, and the VAR team reviews critical incidents. Yet the referee remains responsible for the final decision.

This reminds me of two important tenets of postplagiarism.

The first is that working with technology is becoming the norm. Football officials now work alongside technology rather than without it. In much the same way, students, teachers, researchers, and professionals are increasingly working with AI. The question is no longer simply whether AI should be used, but how it can be used responsibly and effectively. The second idea is that humans remain accountable. If a referee makes a mistake, we do not blame the technology alone. We expect the referee and the officiating team to explain and justify the decision. Technology provides information, but humans remain responsible for how that information is interpreted and applied.

Of course, football officiating and education are not identical. The analogy is not about the tasks themselves but about the changing relationship between human expertise and technological assistance. AI can help students learn, generate ideas, and solve problems. It can support teachers in designing lessons and providing feedback. But it should not replace human thinking, judgment, or responsibility. Football has shown that technological assistance and human responsibility are not competing ideas – they are complementary. If we approach AI in education with the same mindset, the future may not be about replacing human expertise, but about redefining it.

References

Ramazanov, F. (2026). Postplagiarism Beyond Writing: Exploring Undergraduate Business Students’ Perceptions of the Interplay Between Human and Artificial Creativity Throughout the Creative Process University of Calgary]. Calgary, Canada. https://ucalgary.scholaris.ca/items/5efef8b9-75d2-4a9e-8bb8-2f2ec631e6f0

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