Bitkom: Many schools do not regulate the use of AI

According to a survey conducted by Bitkom this year, only a quarter of German schools have set institution-wide rules for the use of AI in lessons. The majority of the students surveyed already use AI tools and would like to learn how to use artificial intelligence at school.

The representative survey of 502 students aged between 14 and 19 was conducted by Bitkom Research on behalf of the digital association Bitkom in February and March of this year. According to the survey, only 23% of schools have rules for the use of AI tools that apply to the entire school. At a further 35%, they are only defined by individual teachers, while 27% of schools have no rules at all for dealing with AI. At the same time, 65% of the students surveyed already use AI for school purposes.

Great interest, uncertain handling

There are also gaps in the enforcement of existing rules. 46% of students who already use AI say that their teachers would not even notice if they were using AI without permission. 29% also assume that they are already better at using AI than their teachers. A total of 80 percent of respondents would like to learn how to use AI applications at school, but only 55 percent are actually taught this in class.

Bitkom President Dr. Ralf Wintergerst explains: “The question is no longer whether AI will find its way into schools, but how we shape learning with it. Clear rules provide important guidance for teachers and pupils alike. Schools must be places where people learn how to use AI competently. The fact that teachers are often unaware of the use of AI shows how important further and advanced training on current digital topics is.”

The Robert Bosch Stiftung's German School Barometer recently revealed that many teachers feel insecure when dealing with artificial intelligence. 62% stated this, for example, when it comes to dealing with AI tools such as ChatGPT.

Integrating AI instead of excluding it

Bremen, for example, shows what the integration of AI tools in schools can look like. It is the first federal state in Germany to introduce an AI chatbot called “Telli” for all its public schools. The chatbot will later be used nationwide. It is part of the cross-state project “Adaptive Intelligent System” (AIS) and is intended to provide teachers and pupils with secure access to generative AI.

According to the education department, Telli works exclusively with pseudonymized user data and is hosted entirely within the European Union. Bremen's Senator for Education, Sascha Aulepp (SPD), explained at the launch: “We want to prepare pupils for a future in which the use of artificial intelligence will be a matter of course. To achieve this, they need guidance, skills – and spaces in which they can try out AI responsibly.” Federal states such as Lower Saxony have already tested AI chatbots in completed pilot projects and have also participated in the AIS project.

In a recent interview with heise online, Austrian teacher, keynote speaker and workshop leader Bernhard Gmeiner expressed the view that previously used examination formats are no longer up-to-date due to the emergence of freely and easily available AI. Instead of banning the use of AI by pupils, its use should be pedagogically supported and integrated into lessons and performance assessments.

The EU Commission, OECD, and Code.org are working on a framework for teaching AI skills to pupils. However, this is still in the consultation process. The final version is not expected until 2026.

(kbe)