Lauri Mällo, of the Jaan Poska high school in Tartu, said he uses AI in his day-to-day work, adding that most students have adapted to using it too.

Mällo, whose subject is biology, said students fall into three categories: Those who use AI very well, those whose usage is a bit hit and miss, and those who use AI in a highly simplistic way.

In Mällo's view, the gap between the top performers and the less capable ones is continuing to grow.

The "use AI very well" category make up about 10 percent of the total, he said, adding this effectively supports their learning; the bottom 10 percent meanwhile use AI in an overly simplistic way, which somewhat hinders their learning, he said.

At the same time, changes will not be immediate.

"I do think, yes, that nothing major will change this autumn. In that sense, maybe some things will become a little more specific, but I don't see any big transformation or turning point happening," Mällo told "Aktuaalne kaamera."

This despite a pilot program planned for the next academic year for the effective use of AI in schools. As for the program's benefits, Mällo said these were such: "That everyone becomes aware that it is needed, that a certain order will emerge, that we have the chance to bring all young people to the same level – meaning equal opportunities for all, as even now those opportunities vary, depending on technical tools or what someone is using. This is definitely the required part."

Ivo Visak, director of the AI Leap, added that the goal is to instill a slightly different behavior when it comes to AI.

He said: "This is actually our long-term plan. Today, the models that are consumer products are designed to provide quick answers. That can have its uses in teaching, but rather, the results that are quietly coming in as research suggest that students' critical thinking skills are declining."

Visak could not yet put a figure on the AI Leap's eventual cost, expressing a hope for a public-private sector partnership on this.

Riin Saadjärv, head of educational technology at the Ministry of Education and Research, shed some more light on how the beginnings of the AI leap will get underway. "We will start on August 21 with a two-day training for teachers, and after that, there will be an online course on the Moodle platform, where materials will be available that teachers can actually use to think about and plan their learning activities in class."

Subsequent training is intended to be virtual and taking place once a month, while teacher learning groups are planned to emerge in schools, where teachers can share their AI-related experiences with colleagues.

As for the AI app, the Ministry of Education is negotiating with OpenAI for the company to start development, with a beta version planned to be ready by September. Development will continue beyond this, Saadjärv said.

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