ROME (Reuters) - Italy is introducing artificial intelligence in its schools as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government explores new ways to close the country's digital skills gap with other European Union members.
Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said this week - when schools reopened across Italy - that AI-assisted software would be tested in 15 classrooms across four regions, with a view to expand the scheme later if the experiment is successful.
AI tools on classroom tablets and computers will act as "virtual assistants that can make learning easier for students and help teachers identify methods for an increasingly bespoke education," the minister told the TGcom24 news channel.
Italy has one of the worst basic digital skills scores in the 27-member EU, according to the bloc's statistical agency Eurostat, faring better only than Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania.
Few details were given about the initiative, however. Valditara's office was not able to confirm the names of the schools that would test the new technology and expand on its workings.