AI for school students: rules, age limits and homework

What German schools regulate

In Germany, schools are the responsibility of the federal states. The state education ministries set out a common line in their AI recommendation of 10 October 2024. It does not ban AI; instead it wants pupils to learn a mature, age-appropriate way of using AI. According to the states, this calls for agreements on how AI-generated work is used and labelled. Exam formats that cannot legally guarantee independent work are to be abolished or fundamentally redesigned, and grades are always given by a teacher in the end, not by AI.

The specific rules are found in the states' school laws, exam regulations and guidelines. Three examples: in Bavaria, pupils may only use digital devices if the supervising teacher allows it, including in assessments. The North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) school ministry published a guideline back in 2023 saying that AI use, like any other help, must be fully disclosed. Brandenburg published a guideline with largely the same rules in 2023. Both guidelines are still the current version on the ministries' websites.

On top of this come the agreements at your school and in your subject. Some teachers explicitly allow AI, others rule it out for a task.

Our assessment: the basic idea is similar across the states, but the details differ. What your teacher sets for a task is what counts.

Homework, presentations and exams: when it counts as cheating

Homework and presentations: according to the NRW guideline, you must cite AI tools you choose to use as a source. If you do not state that a text was created wholly or partly with AI, that is deception about authorship. If the teacher has ruled out AI for the task, using it is also an unauthorised aid and an attempt to cheat. According to the guideline, this also applies to homework, which is usually not graded: you should do it yourself and cite any aids correctly. Brandenburg's guideline says the same.

NRW suggests what the disclosure can look like: you name the AI tool and list the prompts, that is the instructions and questions you used to steer the AI. You attach the text the AI produced. This lets the teacher see what your own work is.

Class tests and exams: in Bavaria, digital devices are in principle not permitted in assessments without the teacher's permission. Cheating with AI is treated the same way as with a classic crib sheet: the work is graded 6 or 0 points, in some cases even for an attempt, and a disciplinary measure is also possible. The ministry explicitly lists smartwatches, mini earphones, smart glasses and calculators with internet access as possible aids.

AI detection: according to the 2023 NRW guideline, it could not be conclusively judged whether reliable software for detecting AI texts will exist. Teachers can, however, check in a conversation about your work, for example, whether you understood and created it yourself.

Our assessment: honest disclosure protects you better than hoping not to be noticed. If you cannot explain your presentation, follow-up questions will show it.

Suitable tools and their age limits (as of October 2026)

Your school's tools: almost all federal states now provide public schools with AI tools free of charge through state licences, reports Deutsches Schulportal. Not every school is included yet: NRW, for example, is rolling out AIS.chat step by step. The most widespread is AIS.chat (called telli until May 2026), the states' school chatbot. According to its operator FWU, pupils can so far only use it via a link shared by their teacher, for example for learning scenarios or conversations with fictional characters. With fobizz, you get a pupil code via your teacher's classroom and, according to the provider, do not need to register. With schulKI, according to the provider, you do not need your own account either: you join via a link from your teacher for a limited time.

ChatGPT with study mode: according to OpenAI, study mode is available on all plans, including the free one. Instead of giving the answer straight away, ChatGPT asks questions, explains step by step and checks your understanding. You start it with @study or via the plus menu. Under the European terms of use, ChatGPT is allowed from 13, and under 18 only with parental permission. If ChatGPT identifies you as under 18, it automatically switches on a teen version with protections; parents can set study hours during which new chats start in study mode. ChatGPT Plus costs 23 euros a month according to OpenAI's German pricing page; you do not need it for study mode.

Gemini and Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) with a school account: if your school uses Google Workspace for Education, both are free there and available to all ages, according to Google, if the admin allows them. Under 18, stricter content rules apply and some features may be restricted. In Gemini Notebook you upload your own materials and ask questions about exactly those, for example to prepare for an exam.

Privately: according to Google, you can only manage your own Google account in Germany from 16, and Gemini Notebook requires this minimum age. Gemini apps are not available for supervised child accounts in the European Economic Area. The DeepL translator and DeepL Write are available in a free version. Claude is only allowed from 18.

More on age limits and parental controls is on our page AI for parents.

Learning instead of copying

The state education ministries assume that AI-supported learning materials can help pupils acquire basic skills. They also note, however, that research on how well generative AI helps people learn is still insufficient.

OpenAI itself writes that study mode is meant to help you understand the material, and that for graded work you should follow the AI rules of your school and teacher.

Our assessment: AI is most useful when you treat it like a patient tutor rather than something to copy from. A few examples:

Ask for explanations: "Explain the binomial formulas as if I were in year 8, then give me three exercises."

Get quizzed: upload your notes and have the AI quiz you question by question before a test, without revealing the answers first.

Get feedback: write your text yourself and then ask about mistakes and unclear passages, instead of having a new text written for you.

Check: AI can be wrong and can invent facts or sources. Check important information in your textbook or reliable sources before you use it.

And remember the class test: you will not have AI with you there. What you only copied, you will not be able to do.

Privacy: school account or private account

School accounts are usually the better choice for privacy, but they are not invisible.

Google Workspace for Education: with a school account, your inputs in Gemini and Gemini Notebook are not reviewed by humans or used to train AI models, according to Google. However, according to Google, the school can search and export Gemini conversations in its domain and decide how long chats are stored.

fobizz: according to the provider, teachers can see what their pupils type in.

AIS.chat: according to FWU, the school chatbot runs exclusively in the EU; as a pupil you can so far only use it via a link from your teacher.

Private ChatGPT: in the personal versions, OpenAI may use your content for training. You can switch this off under Settings, Data controls, "Improve the model for everyone". If you rate an answer with thumbs up or down, the whole conversation may still be used for training.

Free DeepL: DeepL reserves the right to process texts from its free services for a limited period to train its systems. According to its terms of use, you may not enter personal data there at all.

In 2023, the NRW school ministry advised against using ChatGPT in class via pupils' own accounts, mainly for data protection reasons.

Our assessment: do not enter your full name, address, grades, photos of classmates or other people's private problems into any AI. For schoolwork, the subject matter itself is almost always enough.