Government commits to £4m data and AI package for education

The government has launched a £4m package to improve the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in education.

The package includes the creation of a £3m data store, which will hold data such as the national curriculum, lesson plans and anonymised pupil assessments that can be used by AI tech companies to train their tools.

The aim is to create AI education tools which can generate high-quality, tailored content such as workbooks and lesson plans, as well as helping teachers to mark work.

According to a government report, published 28 August, research shows that parents would like teachers to use generative AI to help them so they can spend more quality time with the children in the classroom. However, better and more data is needed to make AI technologies work properly.

Science secretary Peter Kyle said teachers work hard to go “above and beyond” for students, adding: “By making AI work for them, this project aims to ease admin burdens and help them deliver creative and inspiring lessons every day, while reducing time pressures they face.

“This is the first of many projects that will transform how we see and use public sector data. We will put the information we hold to work, using it in a safe and responsible way to reduce waiting lists, cut backlogs and improve outcomes for citizens across the country.”

The data store for education is the first of its kind approach to processing government data for AI, according to the government.

Early education minister Stephen Morgan said that the government is determined to break down barriers to opportunity “to ensure every child can get the best possible education – and that includes access to the best tech innovations for all. AI, when made safe and reliable, represents an exciting opportunity to give our schools leaders and teachers a helping hand with classroom life.  

“Today’s announcement marks a huge step forward for AI in the classroom. This investment will allow us to safely harness the power of tech to make it work for our hard-working teachers, easing the pressures and workload burdens we know are facing the profession and freeing up time, allowing them to focus on face-to-face teaching,” he said.

According to a survey from TeacherApp, almost half of all teachers already use AI, however, current AI tools are not specifically trained on how teaching should work in England.

The government is also launching a £1m catalyst fund for companies wanting to build an AI tool to help teachers. The funding will be awarded to those with the best ideas to put the data from the data store into practice to reduce workloads on teachers.

Alongside the £4m package, the government also committed to publishing a safety framework for use of AI tools in education, which will be published later this year.