Italy is testing AI-assisted education in schools

The country of the old continent of Europe plans to use artificial intelligence in the field of education. Italy is introducing artificial intelligence into its schools as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni explores new ways to close the country’s digital skills gap with the rest of the EU.

According to Reuters, Italian Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said the artificial intelligence will be tested in 4 regions and 15 classrooms, and if successful, it will be rolled out across the country later. Valditara told news channel TGcom24 that the AI ​​tools will act as virtual assistants on tablets and classroom computers and can make learning easier for students. This possibility also helps teachers to use better teaching methods.

However, there are few details about this program for now. Valditara’s office has not yet confirmed the names of the schools that will test the new technology and develop its functionality.

Italian government’s reasons for using artificial intelligence in student education

According to the European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat, Italy has one of the worst basic digital skills scores among the EU’s 27 members; Better than only Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania.

The pressure to use artificial intelligence in Italian schools has increased while the Minister of Education of this country has banned the use of phones in classrooms even for educational purposes.

According to OECD data, Italy’s past efforts to digitize schools, including during the Covid pandemic, have been difficult in part due to the age of the teaching staff; Almost half of the teaching staff in this country were over 50 years old, and this made it difficult to digitize schools.

The prime minister of this country had dedicated artificial intelligence to one of the topics of this year’s G7 summit, which was hosted by Italy. “They will deepen their cooperation to harness the benefits and manage the risks of artificial intelligence,” European leaders said in their closing statement.