China: AI moves into Chinese classrooms as teachers and study buddies.

Storyline AI moves into Chinese classrooms as teachers and study buddies At the start of this school year, students in eastern China's Wuxi are meeting their new teachers, some of who aren't human. AI agents are being deployed on a large scale to provide guidance, classroom instruction and after-school tutoring. In this school, the agents are avatars of famous figures like Albert Einstein, Li Bai, and Sun Wukong. The vice-principal says students find the experience engaging. Lian Cheng, vice principal, Jiyu Experimental School: "When our students faced difficulties, they can proactively ask for help. Students interacted with these AI agents to boost their interests." Another school in the city has built its own AI study companion from various Chinese LLM's. The "Lianyuan Smart Study Companion" understands teaching methodology so it can help teachers' boost their lesson plans, but it also helps students overcome learning challenges by personalizing their experience. The vice principal at this school says it's great for subjects like English. Mao Jingquan, vice principal, Lianyuanjie Primary School: "The AI agent developed by our school is designed to assist teachers with lesson preparation and students with their studies. Its common functions include lesson preparation, English oral practice, and text-to-image generation. We've also added AI writing feedback." In April of this year, China's Ministry of Education released the AI+ Education Action Plan which aims to accelerate AI education development and build a "future-oriented" education system. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]