France to Integrate Artificial Intelligence into High School Curricula

The artificial intelligence system MIA will be included in the curriculum of French schools, which will be available in the form of an application for second-year high school students starting from September 2024.

This was announced at a press conference by French Minister of Education Gabriel Attal, BFMTV reports.

"From now on, students will use an artificial intelligence tool at home to correct and improve their knowledge of French and mathematics," Attal said.

First, students will be asked to take a test consisting of a series of questions in French and mathematics to determine their current level of knowledge. They can also enter the results of a test they took in class when they entered their second year of high school.

After passing this stage, the app will offer thousands of exercises in both subjects. Thanks to a special algorithm, the AI will notify the student in a voice mode about their progress in learning.

"When a student completes an exercise, the algorithm will suggest the next one that it thinks is most relevant to their progress, and it doesn't have to be a linear sequence. One student will never get the same series of exercises as another," explained Thierry de Vulpiller, co-founder of the programme.

Artificial intelligence will also learn. By analysing students' progress, whether the proposed sequence of exercises was effective, AI will make changes to its recommendations.

"The machine contributes to the progress of the students, and the students contribute to the progress of the machine," said de Vulpiller.

In addition to the classic mode of operation called Solo AI, the programme offers other options for using AI, such as video tutorials, exercises for pairs, or Seminars mode for use by teachers in the classroom. Teachers will be able to receive data on the progress of individual students using a dashboard.

The programme's founders say that these tools, which are based on the work of cognitive science researchers, are the best way to help France improve its PISA scores, which are increasingly lagging behind other countries.

At the same time, the Office of the Minister of Education assured that artificial intelligence in the MIA app will not be mandatory for all students.

As The Gaze previously reported, audio streaming service Spotify will use Google's artificial intelligence to provide listeners with individualised recommendations based on what podcasts and audiobooks they listen to.