SPECIAL EDITION: AI in Schools - What Parents and Guardians located in the EU Need to Know Today.

New Rights, New Rules, and What Changes Under the EU AI Act

Today marks an important moment in AI regulation across the European Union . The EU AI Act, which became law in August 2024, is being introduced in phases, and February 2, 2025, is the first major enforcement milestone.

For parents and guardians with children studying in the EU, this means increased transparency, accountability, and safeguards regarding the technology shaping their children’s education. If you’re a parent or guardian in the EU, or if your child studies in an EU school, college, or university, here’s what you need to know about how AI in education is changing, what’s banned today, and what’s coming next.

How the EU AI Act is Rolling Out

The EU AI Act is being implemented in stages to allow schools, universities, and EdTech providers to adjust.

• August 1, 2024: The EU AI Act entered into force.
• February 2, 2025 : The first major enforcement and penalty phase begins, banning certain AI technologies and introducing new transparency requirements.
• August 2, 2025: High-risk AI systems in education must meet much stricter safety and oversight requirements.
• August 2, 2026 : Full enforcement of the Act, with all AI providers and deployers (e.g. educational organizations) are expected to comply with risk assessments, transparency, and accountability measures.

What Changes for Schools and EdTech Providers Today?

The EU AI Act immediately bans several high-risk AI applications in education. Here are examples of what is no longer allowed and why:

1. AI That Manipulates Behavior

Example: An educational app that subtly nudges students to stay engaged longer than they intend; perhaps by using gamification tricks that make stopping difficult or rewarding extended screen time over breaks.

2. AI That Exploits Vulnerabilities

Example: A reading assistant that adjusts the difficulty level of texts based on a student’s emotional response without their knowledge, making them feel anxious about reading instead of confident.

3. Emotion Recognition in Schools

Example: A system that analyzes students’ faces during class to detect boredom or confusion and reports this to the teacher or adjusts lesson pacing or online exam proctoring based on facial expressions.

4. AI-Driven Social Scoring

Example: A school-wide behavior monitoring system that assigns each student a score based on class participation, homework completion, and attendance, ranking them against their peers.

5. Biometric Categorization Based on Sensitive Traits

Example: AI that groups students based on gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic background to personalize learning paths - potentially reinforcing biases rather than creating fair opportunities.

These bans are in place to protect children from AI applications that could unfairly influence or profile them. Schools and EdTech providers are expected to review their AI use and ensure that any technology they rely on is now in compliance with the new rules.

Enforcement and Penalties

The EU AI Act does not just set new rules, it also enforces them. Schools, universities, and EdTech providers that fail to comply may face significant fines.

• Using banned AI systems (e.g., emotion recognition in classrooms): Fine: Up to €35 million or 7% of global annual revenue, whichever is higher.
• Failing to meet transparency and risk assessment requirements for high-risk AI: Fine: Up to €15 million or 3% of global annual revenue, whichever is higher.
• Providing false or misleading information to regulators: Fine: Up to €7.5 million or 1% of global annual revenue, whichever is higher.

For startups and small businesses, fines will be adjusted to the lower of the two possible penalty amounts.

While penalties under the AI Act do not apply to parents, guardians, or students, schools and AI providers must take compliance seriously, and families have the right to ask questions and demand transparency.

What Parents and Guardians Can Do Today

Now that the first phase of the EU AI Act is in effect, parents and guardians can take an active role in understanding how AI is being used in their child’s education.

Questions to ask your child’s school could be:

• Is AI being used in teaching, grading, or decision-making about students?
• If AI is used, how is human oversight ensured?
• What kind of student data is collected, and who has access to it?
• Can families opt out of AI-driven assessments or decisions?

What to look for in Educational Technology:

If your child uses learning apps, tutoring software, or online platforms, check:

• Whether the platform discloses the use of AI.
• What kind of student data is collected and how it is used.
• If there is an option to review or correct AI-generated decisions about student learning.

Engaging with Schools

This is a great time to start a constructive conversation with teachers and school leaders about how AI is being integrated into education.

Importantly, schools are still adapting to these new regulations, and the process can be overwhelming and takes time. Patience and proactive discussions and collaboration will help ensure that AI is used responsibly, effectively, and in compliance with the law.

Parent-Teacher Organizations (PTOs) and AI Youth Councils can play a key role in these conversations by advocating for transparency, facilitating discussions between families and school leadership, and ensuring families are informed about how AI is shaping their children's education.

The EU AI Act is one of the world’s most significant steps toward ensuring AI is safe, ethical, and transparent in education. For students, parents, and guardians, this is an opportunity to advocate for responsible AI use in schools and to ensure that technology enhances learning without compromising students’ rights or privacy.

Staying informed, asking the right questions, and encouraging schools to engage with AI governance best practices will help create a safe and effective AI-powered learning environment for all students.

Vocabulary

EU AI Act: A new European law that regulates artificial intelligence based on risk level, with education classified as high-risk. Link to regulation.

Manipulative AI: AI that influences user behavior in ways they do not consciously recognize.

Emotion Recognition: Technology that attempts to infer emotions based on facial expressions, voice tone, or other biometric data.

Biometric Data: Personal data related to physical, physiological, or behavioral characteristics that can uniquely identify an individual, such as face scans, fingerprints, voice patterns, iris recognition, or gait analysis (how a person walks).

Social Scoring: AI systems that rank individuals based on behavior, data patterns, or personal attributes.

High-Risk AI: AI systems that directly impact fundamental rights, including those used in education, hiring, and public services.

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