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The European Union plans to launch an “AI literacy” certificate for schoolchildren in the hope of addressing the impact of fast-developing technology on education.
“It will help young pupils understand how AI works, check what it tells them, spot manipulation, and know when to switch off,” said European Commission vice president Roxana Minzatu.
Brussels said it would look to launch this new certificate for 15-year-old students for the next 2027-2028 school year. This project comes at a time when teachers and learners around the world are struggling with the impact of AI in schools.
As a persistent decline in basic skills has been observed in the latest PISA 2025 statistics, with around one in three 15-year-olds in the EU underachieving in literacy and mathematics, Brussels aims to use AI to help teachers and students learn better.
Although the EU does not control the educational policies of its member states, it is already backing efforts to study how to safely implement AI in children’s teaching.
Brussels says that improving AI literacy for the youth and teachers, understanding how it works and what its risks are, will empower their ability to learn.
At the same time, Brussels is pushing legislation to curb access to social media for young teenagers. Minzatu insisted the two initiatives were not contradictory.
“AI has the potential of really amplifying certain educational processes: tutoring, personalised learning,” she said.
“Those are ways to use technology and AI that have nothing to do with the addictive algorithms of platforms.”