Albania is officially bringing artificial intelligence into its pre-university education system, allowing teachers and students to use tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI platforms starting with the new school year.
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But Albania's decision comes at a time when other education systems are becoming increasingly cautious about exposing younger students to artificial intelligence.
New York, for example, has introduced restrictions on AI use in public schools, particularly for younger students. The concern is that excessive dependence on AI could weaken independent thinking, writing and problem-solving skills.
That concern is highly relevant for Albania as well.
There is an obvious difference between using AI to help a student understand a difficult subject and allowing AI to do the student's thinking, writing and problem-solving for them.
The risks include academic cheating, dependence on ready-made answers, inaccurate information and the protection of children's personal data.
Albania therefore faces a difficult challenge: how to introduce one of the most powerful technologies of the modern era without allowing it to replace the very abilities that schools are supposed to develop.
The question is not whether Albanian students should learn about artificial intelligence. They almost certainly should.
The real question is whether Albania has built enough safeguards to ensure that AI becomes a tool for smarter students — rather than a shortcut that produces students who no longer know how to think without it.
For a country already struggling with serious challenges in its education system, introducing AI into classrooms should therefore be accompanied by strong rules, teacher training, age-appropriate limits and protection of students' data.
Otherwise, Albania could end up teaching children how to ask a machine for answers before teaching them how to find the answers themselves.