Prue Car, the NSW deputy premier, has asked the NSW Education Standards Authority (Nesa) to impose a ban on unsupervised take-home assessments during a broad review of AI’s impact on student learning.

Car said she has asked Nesa to “urgently” examine artificial intelligence and move to protect student learning amid growing evidence the technology is affecting student’s cognitive development. Half of students’ HSC result is based on school-based assessments, some of which is finished outside the classroom.

She said in a statement:

Artificial intelligence has enormous potential to support teaching and learning, but it should never replace the thinking, creativity, and hard work that education is designed to develop.

The purpose of schooling extends beyond producing an assessment task. It is to build knowledge, judgment, resilience, and critical thinking over time. If students rely on AI to bypass that learning process, we risk undermining both their education and the integrity of the HSC.

Subject to Nesa’s advice, any interim changes would be applied from the beginning of term 4.