Tools & Platforms
SA to roll out ChatGPT-style AI app in all high schools as tech experts urge caution
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.
“AI is well and truly going be part of the future of work and it’s I think it’s on us as an education system, instead of burying our head in the sand and pretending it will go away, to try and tackle it.“
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.
SA Education Minister Blair Boyer says the technology has built-in safeguards. (ABC News: Justin Hewitson)
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 students were involved in the trial of EdChat, which is rolling out across all SA high schools next term. (ABC News: Brant Cumming)
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 says AI has a place in modern learning, but urges caution. (Supplied)
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.
“We want to make sure that we don’t lose those skills or never even acquire those skills.“
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.”
Throughout September, nominations are open for the 2025 Tech Trendsetters award, celebrating the visionaries who spearhead innovation in housing technology.
As HousingWire opens the floor for the 2025 nominations, one clear theme from past winners emerges: the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) . From underwriting to compliance and customer experience, AI is reshaping the operations of the mortgage and real estate sectors.
To spotlight this evolution, we reached out to previous Tech Trendsetters for their insights on the technologies set to define the next five years. Here’s what they shared:
“AI-powered automation will fundamentally reshape the mortgage and real estate ecosystem by streamlining underwriting, risk assessment and customer engagement. The goal is to reduce friction and improve accuracy, creating more personalized experiences for everyone involved. The companies that effectively leverage AI to drive these improvements will be the winners in the coming years.” — Lee Maliniak — chief product officer at Matic
“Agentic AI will fundamentally reshape our industry in the next five years. It offers the promise of freeing us up to spend more time and resources delivering custom homebuying journeys powered by autonomous AI agents, designed to address each borrower’s unique situation and needs — and drive greater brand loyalty down the road.” — Praveen Chandramohan — senior vice president of origination growth solutions at Cotality
“Agentic AI. Not another chatbot. A system that takes a goal and executes across tools without handholding. In real estate, that means a listing launch that drafts the brief, builds compliant creative, books the ads, updates the website and schedules follow-ups. In mortgage, it assembles docs, verifies data, prices scenarios and moves the file through conditions. Forget five years — I think we are close to this.” — Lindsay Listanski, national vice president of marketing at Coldwell Banker
“I project that AI will permeate the mortgage space and be leveraged heavily starting with operational efficiency for repetitive tasks and then encompassing lead generation, QC processing, help desk support and compliance. Expect it to heavily shape our industry in transformational ways in the next several years.” — Eric Lyon, SVP and single-family business technology officer at Freddie Mac
“AI-powered underwriting and property valuation will not only accelerate approvals but also improve risk assessment, opening the door for more equitable access to financing. Combined with blockchain-based title and transaction records, the result could be a faster, more transparent and more trustworthy closing process, measured in days instead of weeks.” — Chris Hilliard, CEO at Winnow Solutions LLC
Do you know someone who’s pushing the boundaries of housing technology? Nominations for the 2025 HousingWire Tech Trendsetters are open now through Sept. 30, 2025. Click here to submit.
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Tools & Platforms
How AI is undermining learning and teaching in universities | Artificial intelligence (AI)
In discussing generative artificial intelligence (‘It’s going to be a life skill’: educators discuss the impact of AI on university education, 13 September) you appear to underestimate the challenges that large language model (LLM) tools such as ChatGPT present to higher education. The argument that mastering AI is a life skill that students need in preparation for the labour market is unconvincing. Our experience is that generative AI undermines teaching and learning, bypasses reflection and criticality, and deflects students from reading original material.
Student misuse of generative AI is widespread. Claims that AI helps preparation or research is simply cover for students taking shortcuts that do not develop their learning skills. Assessments are widely channelled through ChatGPT, disregarding universities’ usually feeble guidance and rules. Generative AI results in generic, dull and often factually incorrect output.
For example, we asked students to interpret a short article by Henry Ford from 1922. Many answers suggested that the autocratic and racist Ford was developing a “sophisticated HR performance management function for his business” and that he was a “transformational leader”.
In many degree programmes, LLMs have little to no practical value. Their use sabotages and degrades students’ learning and undermines critical analysis and creativity. If we are to make better sense of the impact of AI on work, education and everyday life, we need to be more sceptical and less celebratory.
Prof Leo McCann
Prof Simon Sweeney
University of York
Human resources and finance software giant Workday Inc. today announced the acquisition of Sana Labs AB, an artificial intelligence company offering enterprise knowledge and employee training tools, for about $1.1 billion.
Workday also announced new AI agents for HR, finance and industry use cases in its Illuminate platform alongside a new developer platform, including a low-code agent builder that will allow customers to deploy custom AI agents.
Founded in 2016, Sana has focused on developing AI tools to enhance the knowledge and understanding of employees in enterprises. The company’s main products include Sana Learn, a coaching and feedback tool featuring an AI tutor, and Sana Agents, AI-powered knowledge assistants that generate insights and content from enterprise data.
“Sana’s team, AI-native approach, and beautiful design perfectly align with our vision to reimagine the future of work,” said Gerrit Kazmaier, president of product and technology at Workday. “This will make Workday the new front door for work, delivering a proactive, personalized, and intelligent experience that unlocks unmatched AI capabilities for the workplace.”
Sana Learn will be used to complement Workday Learning by adding hyper-personalized skill building to Workday’s already existing learning suite to help employees train faster. Sana Agents provide capabilities beyond traditional chatbots by adding the ability to automate repetitive knowledge tasks and act proactively on users’ behalf. AI agents can streamline day-to-day work by completing mundane tasks such as scanning email for highlights and catching up on reports.
According to Sana, its agents have led to increased time savings and productivity gains. For instance, an unnamed leading American manufacturer achieved up to 95% time savings, while a multinational industrial technology company experienced a 90% increase in productivity.
Workday upgrades its AI agents and work tools
In addition to today’s acquisition news, Workday also announced new AI agents, including a Financial Close Agent and Case Agent, purpose-built for complex business processes like performance reviews, planning and assisting with financial use cases.
The new agents are part of Workday Illuminate, Workday’s AI platform. The company said the new agents are “purpose-built for work,” embedded with their respective industry use cases and powered by deep insights into business data and context.
The company’s new HR agents are designed to help reduce the administrative burden associated with attracting, retaining and engaging talent. According to Workday, these agents will improve the employee experience and allow HR teams to concentrate on strategic initiatives by automating time-consuming processes.
New agents include a Business Process Copilot that automates the setup of new business procedures to reduce manual effort, the aforementioned Case Agent that automates administrative tasks to reduce resolution times for employee needs, an Employee Sentiment Agent that analyzes employee feedback and a Performance Agent that tracks data from enterprise applications to streamline reviews and recommend actions.
To assist finance teams, the company introduced agents specifically designed for reconciliation, testing and planning. These agents help business leaders adapt to changing situations with valuable analysis and improved decision-making capabilities.
These new agents include a Cost and Profitability Agent that allows users to define allocation for costs and revenue based on natural language, a Financial Test Agent that tests financials to detect fraud and enable compliance and the Financial Close Agent that automates the finalization of accounting records to retain accurate financial statements.
For use cases not covered by these agents and Workday’s already existing AI agents, the company today announced Workday Build, a new developer platform that gives customers and partners the power to create and deploy their own AI-powered solutions. It includes Flowise Agent Builder, a low-code tool that makes building agents on the company’s platform simple for both non-technical and advanced users.
“The era of one-size-fits-all enterprise software is over,” said Peter Bailis, chief technology officer at Workday. “With Workday Build, customers go from consuming AI to creating with it, giving them the power to build intelligent solutions directly on their most trusted people and financial data.”
All of these capabilities will be powered by Workday Data Cloud, a new data layer announced today that the company said will connect AI agents to business intelligence and operational systems. In addition, Workday also announced partnerships with Databricks Inc., Salesforce Inc. and Snowflake Inc., permitting zero-copy access to HR and finance data within these data storage platforms.
Image: SiliconANGLE/Microsoft Designer
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