Norway imposes near-ban on AI in primary schools

TL;DR:

• Norway will impose a near-ban on generative AI for elementary pupils and restrict its use for older children from the new school year.
• Pupils aged 6 to 13 should generally not use AI; 14 to 16-year-olds may use it cautiously under supervision.
• The government will also propose funding more physical books, reversing a long shift toward tablets.

Norway is drawing one of Europe’s hardest regulatory lines on AI in education, with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere announcing a near-ban on generative tools for primary school pupils and tight restrictions for older children. The move, framed as protecting fundamental learning, takes effect from the new school year in late August.

Protecting the basics

The reasoning is that AI lets young children skip the steps through which they learn to read, write and do mathematics. Under the standards, pupils from first through seventh grade (ages 6 to 13) should as a rule not use AI at all; those in lower secondary school (14 to 16) may adopt it cautiously under a teacher’s supervision; and only in upper secondary (17 to 19) are students expected to learn to use it appropriately for work and further study.

The policy is part of a broader Norwegian recalibration of classroom technology. The government banned smartphones from schools in 2024 amid falling test scores, and now plans legislation to fund more books — an explicit reversal of the move toward tablets that began with the iPad’s arrival around 2010. It is also pressing ahead with plans to bar under-16s from social media, echoing Australia’s lead. The throughline is scepticism that more screens and tools automatically improve learning.

Looking forward

For UK policymakers, Norway offers a sharp comparator. Britain has so far favoured guidance and cautious experimentation over prohibition, and the Department for Education has leaned toward equipping teachers to use AI rather than restricting pupils. Norway’s harder stance — grounded in concern that AI erodes foundational skills before they form — will sharpen the domestic debate over where, and how early, AI belongs in schools. Whether prohibition or managed adoption better serves children is a question every European education system is now being forced to answer.