Italy is using AI-assisted instruction in classrooms

to improve students’ IT skills.

The Italian government, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, is experimenting with artificial intelligence in schools to try to overcome the nation’s digital skills gap with other EU countries.

Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara announced that AI-assisted software will be tested in 15 classes across four areas this week when schools resumed throughout Italy. If the experiment is successful, there are plans to expand the program later.

As “virtual assistants that can make learning easier for students and help teachers identify methods for an increasingly bespoke education,” artificial intelligence (AI) tools on classroom computers and tablets will function, the minister told the TGcom24 news channel.

According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, Italy ranks among the countries with the lowest fundamental digital skills scores among its 27 members, with only Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania scoring higher.

However, not much information was provided concerning the program. The identities of the schools that will test the new technology and provide further details about how it operates were not confirmed by Valditara’s office.

However, Francesca Bastagli, head of research at the Fondazione Agnelli educational think tank, told Reuters on Friday that the trial’s scheduled review, which will begin this school year, is “promising”.
“It will hopefully tell us what works and what is needed for future rollouts of AI tools in schools to be inclusive and effective” , she stated.

The Italian government’s push for AI in the classroom coincided with a complete prohibition on cell phone use in the classroom even for instructional purposes.
The COVID pandemic and other past attempts to digitalize Italian schools have been challenging, in part because the majority of teaching staff members more than half, based on OECD data are elderly.
Meloni has made artificial intelligence (AI) a focal point of the Italy-hosted G7 meeting this year. Leaders committed to strengthening their “cooperation to harness the benefits and manage the risks of (AI)” in their closing communiqué.