China Expands AI Use in Schools as Platform Plans U.S. Entry

China has directed schools to integrate artificial intelligence into classrooms from primary through senior high levels. A year ago the State Council Information Office ordered a tiered AI education system that also requires teacher training programs to include AI-enabled teaching methods.

One private platform, Squirrel Ai, states it now serves more than 10 million students across 3,000 learning centers. The system tracks individual progress, supplies remedial material when needed, and adjusts content every ten minutes based on response time and accuracy.

At a Hangzhou center located above a shopping mall, students use tablets after regular school hours. An adult supervisor is present only to assist with technical issues; the software itself delivers lessons, videos, or simpler material until concepts are mastered.

An 18-year-old student at the center said the system analyzes her errors and shows related videos so she can correct specific knowledge gaps before exams.

Officials say the program aims to raise performance in lower-tier cities where qualified teachers are scarce. The policy also seeks to prepare students to develop AI tools themselves. Lower birth rates have increased pressure on the education system to produce higher-skilled graduates for the world's second-largest economy.

The company intends to open its first U.S. learning center this summer. It has formed a separate U.S. entity whose largest shareholder is an American hedge fund, and it states that student data will remain in the United States. A Harvard-trained educator and CEO of Pedagogy Ventures told Newsweek that the United States lacks a national mandate or infrastructure to coordinate AI curricula across all schools, resulting in a more fragmented approach.