Tech experts have welcomed the rollout of a ChatGPT-style app in South Australian classrooms but say the use of the learning tool should be managed to minimise potential drawbacks, and to ensure “we don’t dumb ourselves down”.

The app, called EdChat, has been developed by Microsoft in partnership with the state government, and will be made available across SA public high schools next term, Education Minister Blair Boyer said.

“It is like ChatGPT … but it is a version of that that we have designed with Microsoft, which has a whole heap of other safeguards built in,” Mr Boyer told ABC Radio Adelaide.

“Those safeguards are to prevent personal information of students and staff getting out, to prevent any nasties getting in.

EdChat was initially launched in 2023 and was at the centre of a trial involving 10,000 students, while all principals, teachers and pre-school staff have had access to the tool since late 2024.

The government said the purpose of the broader rollout was to allow children to “safely and productively” use technology of a kind that was already widespread.

Mr Boyer said student mental health had been a major consideration during the design phase.

“There’s a lot of prompts set up — if a student is to type something that might be around self-harm or something like that — to alert the moderators to let them know that that’s been done so we can provide help,” he said.

“One of the things that came out [of the trial] which I have to say is an area of concern is around some students asking you know if it [EdChat] would be their friend, and I think that’s something that we’ve got to look at really closely.

“It basically says; ‘Thank you for asking. While I’m here to assist you and support your work, my role is that of an AI assistant, not a friend. That said, I’m happy to provide you with advice and answer your questions and help with your tasks’.”

The government said the app was already being used by students for tasks such as explaining solutions to difficult maths problems, rephrasing instructions “when they are having trouble comprehending a task”, and quizzing them on exam subjects.

“The conversational aspect I think is sometimes underplayed with these tools,” RMIT computing expert Michael Cowling said.

“You can ask it for something, and then you can ask it to clarify a question or to refine it, and of course you can also then use it as a teacher to ask you questions or to give you a pop quiz or to check your understanding for things.”

Adelaide Botanic High School principal Sarah Chambers, whose school participated in the trial of the app, described it as “an education equaliser”.

“It does provide students with a tool that is accessible throughout the day and into the evening,” she said.

“It is like using any sort of search tool on the internet — it is limited by the skill of the people using it, and really we need to work on building that capacity for our young people [by] teaching them to ask good questions.”

Ms Chambers said year levels 7 to 12 had access to the app, and year 11 student Sidney said she used it on a daily basis.

“I can use it to manage my time well and create programs of study guides, and … for scheduling so I don’t procrastinate,” the student said.

“A lot of students were already using other AI platforms so having EdChat as a safe platform that we can use was beneficial for all our learning, inside school and outside school.”

EdChat is similar to an app that has been trialled in New South Wales.

University of NSW artificial intelligence expert Toby Walsh said while generative AI very much had a place in modern learning, educators had “to be very mindful” of the way in which it was used.

“We have to be very careful that we don’t dumb ourselves down by using this technology as a crutch,” Professor Walsh said.

“It’s really important that people do learn how to write an essay themselves and not rely upon ChatGPT to write the essay, because there are important skills we learn in writing the essay — command of a particular domain of knowledge, ability to construct arguments and think critically.

Professor Cowling said while generative AI tools came with the risk of plagiarism, they could in fact strengthen critical skills, if used appropriately.

“We’ve been very focused on the academic integrity concerns but I do think we can also use these tools for things like brainstorming and starting ideas,” he said.

“As long as we anchor ourselves in the idea that we need to know how to prompt these tools properly and that we need to carefully evaluate the output of these tools, I’m not entirely convinced that critical thinking is going to be an issue.

“In fact I would argue that the opposite may be true, and that critical thinking is actually something that will develop more with these gen AI tools.”

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Published 15 September 2025, 05:12 IST

Throughout the last few years, Pittsburgh has been proving itself as one of the most determined comebacks in the U.S. Rust Belt; one of the top mid-sized cities for green commuting; one of this year’s most affordable metros for Millennials to thrive; as well as a top-choice city for Gen Z to put down roots.

While Pittsburgh office space has become some of the greenest in the country, the local economy has also adapted to make room for a thriving tech scene, a growing robotics hub, and even companies operating in the space industry. Now, another transformation is underway in one of the city’s most historic districts as developers are uniting to create a new tech corridor connecting major AI and technology companies on Penn Avenue.

Google, Duolingo, and the U.S. Army’s AI Integration Center are among the more than 20 artificial intelligence tenants that made a home in East End Pittsburgh, which is a part of the city that’s now being reimagined as “AI Avenue.” Despite concerns regarding displacement of residents with longstanding ties to the area, plans are underway to “fill in the blanks” along Penn Avenue that developers see as distracting some of the dynamism away from the two ends of the existing, one-mile-long AI corridor.

Redevelopment projects currently being discussed include:

• Infrastructure improvements to enhance lighting, pedestrian access, and connections through the neighborhood; improve safety and walkability; and create collaboration opportunities for tech companies.
• The Meridian Project, which is a mixed-use development that would include apartments, a grocery store, and restaurants, thereby providing housing and amenities intended to attract and retain tech talent for AI Avenue companies.
• An expansion of Bakery Square, which would incorporate what is now considered a dated and struggling strip mall. This would transform the underutilized area into a mixed-use corridor by providing more modern office space for AI companies, while also allowing both startups and established firms to grow in an uninterrupted, tech-centered environment.

Bakery Square had already announced earlier this year that it would house a new, secure AI innovation center through access to $150 billion in defense tech funding. And, with significant funding for small business innovation research in Pittsburgh already coming from the Department of Defense, developers here hope that a higher concentration of AI-focused companies in this hub would attract even more DoD contracts in the near future.