On November 30, 2022, OpenAI officially launched its ChatGPT engine, a conversational agent based on artificial intelligence (AI). Five days after going live, the chatbot reached one million users. Two months later, in January 2023, it crossed the threshold of 100 million, a growth record for a consumer app on the internet. Today, ChatGPT has established itself as an everyday tool, boasting nearly 800 million weekly active users. Younger generations are particularly fond of it. In France, 90% of second-year students say they use it to complete their homework.
If studies devoted to the impact of this virtual assistance in the educational field remain rare, the first works sketch a contrasting picture. In May 2025, a Chinese study published in the journal Nature showed that when used wisely, chatbots can facilitate certain learning. A year earlier, in the journal Applied Sciences, Slovenian researchers concluded that regular use of ChatGPT for homework reduced students’ ability to complete similar tasks on their own.
Furthermore, a German study published in November 2024 in the journal Computers in Human Behavior explored the impact of using large language models (LLM) to replace traditional search engines. Result: the cognitive load of students who carry out their research through ChatGPT decreases during the task, but the relevance of their reasoning is reduced.
“Serious empirical literature regarding the effects of using AI in education is very rare, notes André Tricot, professor of cognitive psychology at the Paul-Valéry University of Montpellier (Hérault). The time for experimental research is long and AI is developing extremely quickly. Measuring the impact of AI on the attention of high school students remains difficult and depends on many factors.” For their part, teachers are already noticing certain notable effects.
A use of AI not always controlled
“There is clearly a before and after the arrival of AI. This can be seen in the homework and presentations prepared at home. I find absolutely gigantic errors and a way of writing that does not correspond to the students”testifies Jean-Rémi Girard, French teacher in Asnières-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine) and president of the National Union of high schools, colleges, schools and higher education (Snalc). This observation is shared by Blandine Coudert, history and geography teacher in Tours (Indre-et-Loire), whose students use AI to prepare for their grand oral. “In class, some read the presentation generated by ChatGPT, without mastering all the terms. My questions no longer concern the substance, but are a way of checking whether the student understands what he is saying.”
“It is possible to make intelligent use of it. By using ChatGPT after having done the work themselves, for example to improve a text, students make progress.”
National Education has already taken up the subject. In June 2025, it published its “framework for the use of AI” in education, a document which sets out the broad guidelines for responsible use of this technology. From January 2026, all secondary school students (middle and high school) will have access to an AI awareness course, on the PIX platform, the online module tool which aims to develop digital skills. Based on an assessment of the student’s knowledge, the system offers a personalized training program, addressing in particular the issues linked to AI and its functioning, the basics of prompting or even environmental impacts.
🧑💻 #ArtificialIntelligence | All levels
🔷 “Framework for using AI in education” @education_gouv : to regulate the use of#AI at school, an ethical and legal framework is proposed to the educational community
To discover 👉 https://t.co/3eTrKSXDlY pic.twitter.com/vm5SEMHS7f— Teaching Letters with digital technology (@Lettres_edu_num) June 14, 2025
For specialists, AI education must be based on three pillars: understanding how the tools work, developing know-how – knowing how to formulate a relevant request, using the tool wisely – and questioning the ethical, social and economic dimensions. Used thoughtfully, artificial intelligence can become a learning lever. “A study that we carried out in Bordeaux shows that it is possible to make intelligent use of it, underlines André Tricot. By using ChatGPT after having done the work themselves, for example to improve a text, students make progress.” With ChatGPT, students now have access to feedback on open or poorly defined questions, which was difficult to achieve with previous digital tools.
Asking ChatGPT, a reflex
The fact remains that, for many students, the use of AI has become a reflex, reports the Ministry of National Education, which identifies several limits: “AI generates an illusion of understanding and humanity by providing plausible answers, but not always accurate or contextualized, which can reduce critical thinking and the ability to cross-reference sources, or even the discernment necessary to analyze the answers.” High school students often favor simplistic queries to the detriment of a structured research approach. With, in the background, the risk of passive dependence on these tools.
On the other side of the desks, teachers are adapting. In July 2024, an Estonian study revealed that 49% of teachers had changed their teaching practices with the advent of AI, mainly by reducing homework and developing activities that promote critical thinking. Data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) supports these findings.
In France, 56% of teachers want to be trained in AI, according to figures published in August 2025. A national training plan has been proposed since the start of the 2025 school year. However, it is not unanimous. “Behind the major training plans announced, not much is happening”regrets Jean-Rémi Girard. The Ile-de-France professor says rely more on personal knowledge when addressing these issues in class.
Towards a more supervised use of AI at school?
Faced with ever-increasing use of AI by their students, teachers are getting organized. The Sustainable Digital Education collective, which brings together teachers and management staff, contributed to parliamentary work on the prevention of excessive exposure to screens. He defends several measures such as the right for students to disconnect, digital use as an object of teaching rather than as a means and a more critical approach to AI. Blandine Coudert joined the collective in May 2024, a few months after its creation, with the desire to warn about the effects observed in class: “Young people are losing confidence in generative AI and technologies that seem to do everything better than them.”
“It is important that students are able to act without these tools, with critical thinking and knowledge of the facts.”
According to the Touraine history and geography professor, the massive use of ChatGPT slows down the development of certain skills. “Students find it more and more difficult to read long texts and they quickly become discouragedshe notes. AI is used as a crutch that would think for them.” The solution advocated by the collective: distance yourself from digital technology, at least partially.
Same story from the National Union of High Schools, Colleges, Schools and Higher Education (Snalc) which calls for a gradual introduction of technologies in education. “It is important that students are able to act without these tools, with critical thinking and knowledge of the facts”insists its president Jean-Rémi Girard.
A “made in France” solution to support high school students
If the risks linked to AI are pointed out by the teaching community, initiatives are emerging to offer tools better suited to secondary education. This is the case of BiblioOnDemand, a start-up which has developed its own AI dedicated to the educational sector. The solution has been deployed since fall 2025 in all public high schools in New Aquitaine and Brittany. The model was trained exclusively on content from France 24, Radio France and RFI.
“BiblioOnDemand was born following an observation: students increasingly access knowledge through video or audio, rather than through writing”indicates Marie-Delphine Foudriat, creator and manager of the young growth. The tool thus provides concise answers adapted to the language of high school students and systematically cites its sources. Objective: encourage the student to watch or listen to the media content that inspired the response.
Designed as a learning aid, this AI recognizes when it does not know and does not automate the production of homework. “For a dissertation, for example, our tool suggests axes and gives the path, but does not write. It’s up to the student to dig in and do the work.”specifies the entrepreneur. The first feedback from librarians, history and French teachers is considered encouraging: they welcome a secure tool that is compatible with educational requirements.
Between technological promises and risks of excessive use, artificial intelligence is now establishing itself as a central issue for schools in France. The future will detail how the educational community will choose to embrace it… or protect itself from it.
