Norway imposes near AI ban for junior school pupils, curbs use for older children

Norway is imposing a near ban on the ⁠use of generative ⁠AI tools by junior ⁠school pupils while also restricting their use in the education of older children to prevent a negative impact on learning, the country’s prime minister has said.
Facing a broad decline in education test ‌scores, the government in 2024 banned smartphones from schools and has given teachers back more powers to enforce discipline in the classroom.
Using artificial intelligence increased the risk that young children skip important steps in their education, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a press conference on Friday.
“The most important thing in ⁠school is that our children learn to read, write and do mathematics,” Stoere ‌said, adding that the new standards would be imposed from the new school year beginning in late August.

Pupils from first through ‌seventh grade, aged 6 to 13, should as a general rule not ⁠be using ⁠AI, while those in lower secondary school, aged 14 to 16, could cautiously adopt tools under teachers’ ‌supervision, the government said.
In upper secondary education, from ages 17 to 19, students should learn to use ‌AI appropriately ‌so that they would be prepared for further education and work, it added.
Norway ‌began adopting computers in classrooms in the 1990s and tablets after the introduction ⁠of the iPad from 2010 onwards, reducing the reliance on books and handwriting.
But ⁠in a related statement on Friday, the government also said it would propose legislation to fund the use of more books in classrooms, reversing ‌the trend towards ‌computer tablets.
The Norwegian government in April also announced plans to ban children from using social media until the age of 16, following a trend pioneered by Australia and some other nations to reduce young people’s use of electronic devices.