Ministers are scoping out how to ensure schools benefit financially from any future use of pupil data by artificial intelligence (AI) systems, Schools Week has learned. The rapid rollout of generative AI such as ChatGPT and Google Bard has prompted a scramble across government to harness the technology鈥檚 power, but also to guard against any risks. Such 鈥渓arge language models鈥� could quickly process huge amounts of data, which experts say could help schools to understand their pupils better and analyse the impact of innovations. Third-party organisations, including private companies, can already request data from the national pupil database for analysis. The development of more and more sophisticated AI systems could make this analysis easier. However, ministers are understood to be concerned about any use of pupil data to generate profits for private companies without any benefit for schools and pupils. Baroness Barran, the minister leading on AI for the Department for Education, told Schools Week ministers were 鈥渁bsolutely thinking about all of these issues鈥�. 鈥淚t wouldn’t be truthful to say that we’re clear on what principles we will follow, but obviously, we are extremely sensitive and aware of the use of individual or aggregated pupil data. That鈥檚 clearly a real priority that we get that right鈥�. DfE probes data ownership and value Barran said ministers were asking 鈥渁 number of questions鈥�, including on ownership of the data and 鈥渨hat鈥檚 it worth鈥�. 鈥淚t’s about as complicated as anything I’ve ever looked at. But we’re working with people who are experts in data ethics and privacy, to really think through these problems.鈥� Gillian Keegan Ministers this week launched a call for evidence about the future use of AI in education, having already issued on how to combat issues such as cheating. Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, told London Tech Week on Wednesday that AI was 鈥渢ransforming the world鈥�, and that education must not be 鈥渓eft behind鈥�. Niel McLean, the head of education at BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, said there were potential benefits to using AI and pupil data. 鈥淚f you build up a really large data model, and you train it using the pupil level data, then you can use that data model to help you understand your students as whole people. 鈥淓verything matters. Their attendance matters, their performance matters, all those sorts of things. You鈥檝e got a better sense of them as individuals. AI can do that. It can just help you just know your learnings better.鈥� But he urged ministers to think about 鈥渇our Ps鈥�. DfE needs ‘clear public benefit statement’ 鈥淭here鈥檚 an ethics of purpose 鈥� what you鈥檙e actually using this to do? There鈥檚 an ethics of processes 鈥� how is data handled? What鈥檚 the confidentiality? How secure is it? There鈥檚 a people side. You want the people doing it to be professional, and feel they鈥檙e accountable. 鈥淭he fourth P that came to my mind is the payback. Having a clear public benefits statement about giving that data to this entity, what does it deliver? And it shouldn’t just be financial return. It should be something that improves things for young people.鈥� But the DfE already faces questions about its approach to data-sharing. A damning audit by the Information Commissioner鈥檚 Office (ICO) in 2020 found the department broke data protection laws in how it handled pupil data. The full report still hasn鈥檛 been released. It was also reprimanded over a 鈥渟erious breach鈥� that allowed a company providing age-verification for gambling companies access to the personal information of millions of young people. Jen Persson, from the campaign group DefendDigitalMe, said the department should 鈥減ublish the evidence of today’s data reality before getting ahead of itself with imagined futures. The 2020 DfE ICO audit must be published in full, with a timeline for what remains to be done. 鈥淎nd the DfE must commit to giving families control over the current commercial re-uses of their own and their children’s information from the millions of named records in the national pupil database, that few know exists.鈥�