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Ethical Frontiers. Navigating AI in Education within the EU Framework

UpdatedMarch 18, 2025
ByIuliia Gorshkova

Key Points

  • The EU regulates AI in education through the AI Act, effective August 1, 2024, with most provisions starting August 2, 2026, focusing on high-risk systems like admissions and qualification evaluations.
  • Ethical use involves transparency, fairness, accountability, and privacy, guided by the European Commission’s 2022 ethical guidelines for educators.
  • AI training materials must be high-quality, relevant, and comply with data protection laws; using unauthorized or discriminatory data is unethical and often illegal.
  • Some practices, like tracking student behavior without consent, may be legal but ethically questionable, requiring educator discretion.

EU Regulations and High-Risk AI Systems

The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act) is a landmark regulation, categorizing AI systems by risk. In education, high-risk systems—such as those determining access to services, evaluating qualifications, or assigning students to programs—must meet strict requirements. These include risk management, data quality, transparency, and human oversight, ensuring safety and fairness.

Ethical Guidelines for Educators

The European Commission’s 2022 ethical guidelines (Ethical guidelines for AI in education) emphasize transparency, fairness, accountability, and privacy. Educators are encouraged to inform students and parents about AI use, ensure no discrimination, take responsibility for AI tools, and protect student data, aligning with the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 (Digital Education Action Plan).

Materials for AI Training

AI training data must be relevant, representative, and error-free, with governance practices to mitigate biases, as outlined in the AI Act’s Article 10 (AI Act Article 10). Using data without consent, discriminatory data, or special categories of personal data without strict conditions is unethical and often illegal. Copyrighted materials without permission also raise ethical and legal concerns.

Ethical vs. Legal Gray Areas

While the AI Act prohibits certain practices, some uses—like tracking student behavior without consent—may be legal but ethically questionable. Educators should exercise discretion, considering privacy and fairness, even if not explicitly regulated.

A Comprehensive Exploration of Ethical AI Use in Education within the EU

As artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly permeates educational landscapes, its integration into teaching and learning processes offers transformative potential. However, it also raises significant ethical and legal questions. This article, aimed at educators within the European Union (EU), explores the ethical use of AI in education, detailing what is considered ethical and what is not, the materials suitable for training AI systems, and how the EU regulates these practices. Drawing on current regulations and guidelines, it seeks to provide a deep understanding for educators to navigate this evolving field responsibly.

Regulatory Framework: The EU AI Act

The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act), published on July 12, 2024, and entering into force on August 1, 2024, with most provisions effective from August 2, 2026, represents the world’s first comprehensive AI law. It adopts a risk-based approach, classifying AI systems into three categories: unacceptable risk, high risk, and low or minimal risk.

  • Unacceptable Risk: These systems, such as those for social scoring or certain biometric identifications, are banned due to their potential to harm fundamental rights and Union values.
  • High-Risk AI Systems: These systems, subject to stringent requirements, include those used in critical sectors like education. According to Annex III of the Act (Annex III details), high-risk AI systems in education encompass:
    • AI systems determining access to educational and vocational training services.
    • Systems evaluating admission criteria or awarding qualifications.
    • Systems assigning students to specific educational tracks or programs.

High-risk systems must comply with obligations such as implementing a risk management system, ensuring data quality and governance, maintaining technical documentation, providing transparency, ensuring human oversight, and meeting accuracy, robustness, and cybersecurity standards. These requirements aim to protect students’ rights and ensure fair educational outcomes.

Ethical Guidelines for Educators

Beyond legal compliance, the European Commission published “Ethical guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence and data in teaching and learning for educators” in October 2022 (Ethical guidelines for AI in education). These guidelines, part of the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 (Digital Education Action Plan), are designed to help educators understand AI’s potential and risks, fostering ethical engagement.

Key principles include:

  • Transparency: Educators should inform students and parents about AI use, ensuring clarity on how AI systems support teaching and learning.
  • Fairness: AI systems must not discriminate, ensuring equitable treatment across diverse student populations, addressing biases in algorithms and data.
  • Accountability: Educators are responsible for the AI tools they deploy, ensuring they align with educational goals and ethical standards.
  • Privacy: Student data must be handled with care, adhering to privacy laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and minimizing data collection to what is necessary.

The guidelines also address emerging competences, suggesting training for educators to critically and effectively use AI, and provide practical examples to foster dialogue on ethical AI use in education.

Materials for Training AI: Legal and Ethical Considerations

The choice of materials for training AI systems, particularly high-risk ones in education, is governed by both legal and ethical frameworks. Article 10 of the AI Act (AI Act Article 10) outlines specific requirements for data and data governance:

AspectDetails
Data QualityTraining, validation, and testing data sets must be relevant, representative, error-free, and complete.
Data Governance PracticesInclude design choices, data collection processes, preparation (annotation, labelling), bias assessment, and mitigation measures.
Special Categories of DataProcessing personal data (e.g., health, ethnicity) is allowed only for bias detection/correction under strict conditions, such as necessity, security, and deletion post-use.
Prohibited DataData collected without consent, discriminatory data, or data violating privacy laws cannot be used.

Ethically, training materials should avoid copyrighted content without permission, as this could infringe intellectual property rights and raise fairness concerns. For instance, using student essays without consent for training could violate privacy and trust, even if legally permissible in some contexts.

What Is Ethical and What Is Not

Ethical AI use in education aligns with the principles of transparency, fairness, accountability, and privacy. Practices such as personalized learning systems that respect student data and provide equitable opportunities are ethical. Conversely, using AI to track student behavior without consent, while potentially legal if not explicitly prohibited, raises ethical concerns due to privacy invasions and potential stigmatization.

The AI Act prohibits certain practices, such as exploiting vulnerabilities or using subliminal techniques to distort behavior, which are clearly unethical. However, gray areas exist, such as deploying AI for predictive analytics on student performance without clear consent or transparency, which may be legally compliant but ethically questionable. Educators must exercise discretion, considering the potential impact on students and aligning with ethical guidelines.

EU Regulation and Enforcement

The AI Act establishes a robust enforcement mechanism, with the European AI Office and national competent authorities overseeing compliance. High-risk AI systems must be registered in the EU database, and providers face penalties for non-compliance, up to EUR 35 million or 7% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher. The Act also facilitates the AI Pact, a voluntary initiative to support early compliance, effective from August 2025 for general-purpose AI models (AI Act implementation).

Educators should stay informed about these regulations, as they will impact the deployment of AI tools in schools, especially from August 2, 2026, when most provisions apply. Training programs, as suggested in the ethical guidelines, will be crucial for ensuring AI literacy among educators, enabling them to navigate both legal and ethical landscapes.

Navigating the ethical use of AI in education within the EU requires a dual focus on legal compliance with the AI Act and adherence to ethical guidelines. Educators must ensure AI systems are transparent, fair, accountable, and privacy-respecting, using appropriate training materials that comply with data protection laws. While some practices may fall into legal gray areas, ethical considerations should guide decisions, protecting students and fostering trust in educational environments.

Key Citations

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