ROME, May 20 (Xinhua) -- A growing number of Italian students are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help them with their school work, a recent survey has shown.

Some 65 percent of pupils aged between 16 and 18 said they regularly use ChatGPT and similar tools to do their homework, while 71 percent carry out AI searches to find information.

Run by technology company Tgm Research for Italian anti-plagiarism platform NoPlagio, the survey involved around 1,000 Italian students enrolled in secondary schools. Some 33 percent said AI tools were helpful for their studies.

Geographically speaking, big Italian cities are on the frontline, with 60 percent of male students from Naples saying they regularly use AI, followed by 56 percent in Milan and 53 percent in Rome.

As for the future, a wide majority of both male (71 percent) and female (65 percent) students said they would likely keep using AI tools for their education.

At the same time, young Italians expressed some concerns over the possible negative impact of AI: while 31 percent said it could be useful in everyday life, 64 percent were worried about unlimited use at school and at work.

The results of the survey come amid increasing efforts to promote the safe and conscious management of AI tools, especially in education. Around 8,000 workshops and over 160 training courses on AI for teachers have been provided to public schools across Italy in the last two years.

Since the European Parliament approved the AI Act in March, the use of AI has been regulated in EU member states. The Act is the first comprehensive legal framework concerning AI at global level, and has been forged on a risk-based approach, meaning that AI applications deemed potentially risky are subjected to stricter rules.

Meanwhile, some are fully prohibited, such as biometric categorization systems based on sensitive characteristics, and non-targeted scraping of facial images from the internet or CCTV footage.

The EU Act also does not allow AI tools to enable emotion recognition in schools and workplaces, social scoring or predictive policing.

In April, the Italian cabinet also passed a domestic decree on AI. In line with the EU regulation, the Italian decree confirms the promotion of AI tools, but in adherence with principles of transparency and security, including personal data protection, economic exploitation, and confidentiality. Enditem

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