Students in Europe’s top education systems are being encouraged to use artificial intelligence (AI) thoughtfully through custom apps developed for schools that do not provide direct answers, the Oireachtas Commission says.
Last September, Estonia launched AI Leap, a three-year pilot program introducing AI tools and training for students and teachers.
The program currently supports more than 4,900 teachers through training, subject-based instruction, and regular AI literacy seminars.
It also includes an application developed specifically for Estonian students in collaboration with OpenAI, which is intentionally designed not to provide direct answers.
For example, if a student asks a question about the chemical properties of metals, the app won’t respond directly.
Instead, ask follow-up questions like a teacher would, such as “What do you already know about this topic?” or “Can you think of any examples of metals being reactive?”
Estonia ranks among Europe’s top performers in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) education rankings, outperforming countries with larger budgets and populations.
The latest OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results put Estonia first in Europe in mathematics, science and creative thinking, and second in reading after Ireland.
AI Leap is voluntary for Estonian schools, Laura Calda, the company’s chief operating officer, told the committee. In its first year, the program enrolled 20,000 students.
“This rollout is probably easier because we are a small country, but we covered 99% of high schools in the first year,” she said.
She added that the program is “very cautious” about introducing AI to young students.
“We haven’t approached elementary school students yet. We don’t expect them to have these kinds of critical thinking skills yet, so we’re waiting to see the impact there.”
When asked about quality control, Calda said, “We don’t control the answers,” adding that students are also taught media literacy skills.
“I tell them to check the answer for themselves.”
The program works to improve the content of Estonian language educational materials by integrating them with large-scale language models (LLMs).
“We are working to get better answers. [improving] I would like to guarantee the quality of the LLM, but of course I cannot do that. [have] There is 100% accuracy. We encourage students to evaluate this themselves,” she added.
Armas Riives, head of communications at AI Leap, told the committee that students and teachers are encouraged to use AI wisely.
“But in reality, no one knows what the ‘smart’ use of AI is,” he added.
The program recently launched a campaign to discuss how professionals such as lawyers, teachers, and musicians are using AI in their work.
The initiative aims to emphasize that while AI can be a useful tool, how it is used is paramount, he added.
