Tech Explained: In some schools, chatbots interrogate students about their work. But the AI revolution has teachers worried | Australian education in Simple Terms

Once upon a time, school students would submit an essay, and teachers would mark it. Job done.

Enter “Thinking Mode”. Now, in some Australian schools, once a student finishes an assignment an AI chatbot will interrogate them about it: put them on the spot in a two-way dialogue, to make sure they really understood what they wrote.

“Can you explain this a little bit more?” the chatbot might say, or, “What do you mean by that word?”

It’s not just about hammering in the lesson. It’s also a way to ensure students do their own thinking, and haven’t resorted to plagiarism or ChatGPT.

At Hills Christian Community School in the Adelaide Hills, the technology is just one way teachers and students are using artificial intelligence and other brand-new tech to further learning.

Students also use sensors, drones and coding to learn about natural ecosystems, from rivers to pollinators and bushland habitats. Students with disabilities, including limited speech, are accessing Meta AI glasses with inbuilt speakers that explain what is happening without disrupting the classroom.

The school’s leader of digital innovation, Colleen O’Rourke, says they have a philosophy: “AI tools are used by educators to amplify great practice, not dilute it.”

“The human element cannot be lost in this,” she says. “AI is the co-collaborator in the triad of the teacher and the student.”

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But while AI is being rolled out at Australian schools in innovative ways, it is not coming to all of them, and not equally.

The peak body for independent schools is urging the federal government to take up a national AI pilot or risk creating a “two-speed system” and widening educational divide.

The Independent Schools Australia (ISA) paper, released on Monday, analysed how schools across the nation were integrating generative AI into teaching and learning, three years after the release of ChatGPT.

It found schools were adopting AI at widely varying speeds, depending on their geography and resources.

Just two jurisdictions, New South Wales and South Australia, have rolled out AI programs to public schools, after a ban on the technology was overturned in late 2023.

The chief executive of ISA, Graham Catt, said Australia was at a critical point in determining whether AI became a tool for equity or inequality.

“If we don’t act deliberately now, we risk creating a two-speed system,” Catt said. “Some schools will surge ahead, while others struggle to keep up.”

The paper called on the federal government to launch a national, sector-blind pilot AI program, to provide a pathway on how to ethically adopt the technology and where to direct funding.

The latest Teaching and Learning International Survey (Talis), released in 2024, found two-thirds of Australian teachers in secondary years and just under half of primary school teachers used AI in their work, placing the nation among countries with the highest uptake of the technology.

But teachers also expressed caution about the negative impacts on student wellbeing AI could cause, privacy issues and the possibility for plagiarism, indicating a need for better guidance and safeguards.

In independent schools, large language models (LLMs), a type of AI system, are already being used to help teachers with marking, provide student feedback, identify learning gaps and act as a one-on-one tutor.

NSWEduChat, a department-owned generative AI tool, has been rolled out to all public schools in NSW to help teachers with lesson planning and students to study by asking guided questions to encourage critical thinking.

South Australia’s EdChat chatbot was also distributed statewide in 2025. Early results show it has saved time for teachers and particularly helped students with language or learning barriers.

Rourke says teachers are scrambling to try to understand how technology is changing, and need proper training.

“We can’t teach our kids how to use it responsibly if teachers don’t know how to use it responsibly.”