In schools and universities, teachers have less and less time for actual teaching: they prepare materials, grade assignments, fill out paperwork, and respond to messages. Students, for their part, need to understand and practice the material at their own pace.
Artificial intelligence can help both sides, if used correctly. In education, „correctly” means three things: student data remains protected, the teacher remains the one who evaluates and makes decisions, and the tools comply with the new European regulations. In this article, we’ll look at what an AI assistant can actually do in a school and what limits must be observed.
In a nutshell
- An AI assistant can transcribe and summarize lessons, generate exercises, and simplify teachers' administrative tasks.
- Student data is particularly sensitive, especially when the students are minors. A locally hosted server on the school's platform reduces these risks.
- Assessing students using AI is considered a high-risk use under the AI Act. The grade is given by the teacher, not the algorithm.
What an AI Assistant Can Do for Teachers
Transcripts and summaries of the lessons
A recorded lesson or course can be automatically transcribed, and the transcript can be summarized into a few key points. Students who were absent receive catch-up material, and the teacher has a basis for the lesson plan. Nextcloud has a transcription module (speech-to-text) that can run locally, on the school’s server, or on the provider’s server.
Exercises and Worksheets
Based on a lesson or a chapter, the teaching assistant can suggest review questions, exercises of varying difficulty levels, or different versions of the same worksheet to discourage copying. The teacher selects, grades, and adapts the materials.
Materials Explained in a Different Way
The same text can be rephrased in simpler terms for students who need extra support, or translated for students who speak a different native language. For students with special educational needs, adapted materials can make all the difference.
Administrative Tasks
Drafts of faculty meeting minutes, summaries of regulations, standard responses to parents, and compiling information from multiple documents. These are repetitive tasks where the assistant saves time and the teacher reviews the results.
What it can do for students
An assistant configured to use the course materials can answer basic questions such as: „What does the term X mean?”, „What are the steps in process Y?”, „Where can I find this week’s assignment?” The answers are based on materials uploaded by the professor, not on random information from the internet.
Important: Such an assistant should help with understanding and practice, not to do the homework for the student. The setup and usage rules established by the teacher make all the difference.
A platform for the entire school, with data stored in Romania. Nextcloud, hosted by Romleas, brings together files, a calendar, video conferencing, and a local AI assistant on servers in Oradea. See the Nextcloud solution.
Limits: What the AI Act Says About Education
The European Regulation on Artificial Intelligence (AI Act) treats education as a sensitive area. Annex III of the regulation classifies as systems with high risk AI systems used for:
- admission to or placement in educational institutions and programs;
- assessment of learning outcomes;
- determining the appropriate level of education for an individual;
- monitoring and detecting prohibited behaviors during tests.
For these uses, the regulation imposes strict requirements: risk assessment, documentation, human oversight, and transparency. Following the postponement adopted in 2026 through the „Digital Omnibus” package, the requirements for these systems apply as of December 2, 2027.
Practical conclusion: AI can help teachers prepare materials or identify common mistakes, but The grade and the decision are up to the teacher. A tool that automatically grades students is not just a productivity tool.
And if students are communicating directly with an AI assistant, they must be clearly informed, from the very first interaction, that they are speaking with an AI system. This requirement has been in effect since August 2, 2026. For more details, see our article on AI Act and Chatbots.
Student Data: Why It Matters Where AI Runs
Students’ assignments, notes, messages, and recordings are personal data, and in the case of minors, the GDPR requires enhanced protection. When a teacher copies a student’s assignment into a free, public AI tool, this data may end up on servers outside the European Union and may be used to train other models.
An AI assistant hosted locally on the school’s platform avoids this problem: the data remains on controlled servers, access is granted through school accounts, and the school can clearly document where and how the data is processed.
Example: A Week in the Department
On Monday, the biology teacher records the lesson on the nervous system. The transcript and summary are ready the same day and are uploaded to the class folder for students who were absent. On Tuesday, he asks his teaching assistant for ten review questions at three levels of difficulty, keeps seven, and rephrases two of them. On Wednesday, he prepares a simplified version of the lesson for a student with reading difficulties. On Thursday, the teaching assistant drafts the minutes of the parent-teacher conference based on his notes. On Friday, he grades the assignments, and, as always, he assigns the grades himself.
The time saved doesn't disappear—it goes toward lesson preparation and the attention given to students.
How a School Begins
- Set the rules. What teachers can use, what students can use, and what should never be entered into AI.
- Get started with volunteer teachers. Several departments are testing the tool for materials and administrative tasks.
- Inform the parents. Clear communication about which tools are used and how data is protected builds trust.
- Instruct. A brief session on what AI can and cannot do helps prevent both misuse and fear of the unknown.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can AI grade students' assignments?
It can flag errors or suggest corrections, which the teacher then reviews. Automatic grading, without the teacher’s input, falls under the category of high-risk uses in the AI Act and is not recommended.
Won't students use AI to do their homework?
Students already have access to public AI tools. An assistant set up by the school—based on course materials and with clear guidelines—can guide them toward understanding rather than copying. Assignments can be designed to require personal reflection, not just reproduction.
Is special equipment needed in schools?
No. The platform and the AI assistant run on the provider's servers; teachers and students access them through a browser or mobile apps.
Where is the data stored?
At Romleas, on servers in Oradea, Romania. The data is not transferred outside the country and is not used to train other models.
Conclusion
In education, AI can save teachers valuable time and provide students with additional support at their own pace. The conditions are clear: student data must be protected, teachers must have the final say, and there must be transparency toward students and parents.
If your school or university would like to test an AI assistant using its own materials, Write to us.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The information is current as of the date of publication.
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