Back to school with AI for more personalised and accessible learning

August 31, 2026

Back to school is often associated with new books, new timetables and a list of tasks to tackle. At a time when skills are constantly evolving, learning more effectively goes beyond the classroom. Students, teachers and professionals now share a common challenge: accessing knowledge in a way that is personalised, easy to understand and tailored to individual needs.

AI can help prepare study materials, generate revision questions, tailor explanations to each person's level and make it easier to learn new content. Tools such as Gemini Notebook (the evolution of NotebookLM) or ChatGPT can transform notes, reports, manuals and educational materials into useful guides for more structured and personalised learning.

Using AI to learn more effectively does not mean relying on it to do the learning for us. Its value lies in broadening access to knowledge, providing tailored support and freeing up time to understand, practise and apply what has been learnt. From this perspective, the back-to-school period is an opportunity to use AI thoughtfully to support continuous learning, both in formal education and in lifelong learning.

AI adds value when it broadens access to knowledge without replacing effort or judgement.

'Back to school' in the age of personalised learning

For a long time, learning meant following the same path for everyone: the same materials, pace and explanations. That model remains useful in many contexts, but AI can complement it with more flexible support, adapting the depth of explanations, providing additional support for specific concepts and turning complex content into accessible guides.

■ Technology delivers greater value when it complements the student's work, the teacher's judgement or the professional's expertise.

Personalising learning means making content easier to understand and more accessible to each individual.

From notes to personalised study guides

One of the most immediate applications of AI in learning is using it with your own materials: class notes, documents, presentations, videos, web pages or training resources. Many AI tools, even in their free versions, can analyse content and transform it into formats that are useful for studying, revising or preparing sessions.

They can also generate summaries, identify key concepts, create self-assessment questions, explain a topic in more or less detail and adapt content to different individual and learning needs.

For a student, this can make it easier to prepare for an exam; for a teacher, it can support the creation of learning materials; and for a professional, it can turn technical documentation into more accessible resources.

■ These tools work best as a form of support rather than as the sole source of information. An AI-generated study guide can be a good starting point if we review the sources, supplement the information, verify the results and practise what we have learnt.

Tools such as Gemini Notebook or ChatGPT can help turn your own materials into useful guides for studying and revision.

Tailored explanations, examples and additional support

Everyone learns at their own pace, requires different levels of detail and has individual needs. An AI-powered assistant can tailor an explanation, provide examples, answer common questions and help identify which concepts need further attention.

In education, this can help create more flexible learning experiences tailored to each student. In the workplace, it can help design learning pathways aligned with job roles, existing skills and individual employee needs. The aim is to provide better support for effective learning, with human oversight and judgement.

AI adds value when it tailors support to each person's pace, level and objectives.

'Back to school' applies to professionals too

In the workplace, learning does not stop when we start a job. Technological advances, new tools and changing business models make continuous learning a key capability.

In this context, AI can facilitate reskilling and upskilling by turning corporate content, manuals, reports and technical materials into training resources that are more accessible and better suited to different audiences. It can also help teams prepare sessions, synthesise internal knowledge and create learning pathways aligned with specific needs.

However, continuous learning involves more than simply consuming content quickly. It requires choosing carefully what to learn, understanding why it matters and putting that knowledge into practice. AI can make parts of this process more efficient, but developing new capabilities depends on experience, curiosity and real-world application.

Continuous learning is most valuable when it turns knowledge into practical capabilities.

Using AI to learn more effectively requires judgement

The value of AI in education and training depends on responsible use. These systems can make mistakes, provide incomplete answers or present uncertain information as fact. That is why it is important to cross-check sources, review outputs and maintain a critical mindset.

It is also important to consider information privacy and security. Not all materials should be shared with every tool, particularly if they contain personal data, confidential information or internal documentation. Learning with AI means understanding both its capabilities and its limitations.

■ AI can help with studying and preparing materials, but it is important to check what information is being shared and which tool it is being shared with. In educational and professional settings, notes, reports or documents may contain personal data, internal information or sensitive content.

Using unauthorised solutions or sharing data without appropriate controls can increase security and privacy risks and create regulatory compliance risks. Before using these tools, it is therefore important to consider the security risks associated with using unauthorised AI tools and check what information should not be shared with generative AI tools. The recommendation is straightforward: avoid sharing personal data, confidential information or internal materials in unapproved environments.

This approach reflects a way of applying technology to real needs: useful, secure and responsible solutions designed to deliver value without losing sight of control, trust and human judgement.

Integrating AI into learning means deciding when it can provide genuine support, which tasks can be partially delegated and which aspects should continue to depend on human judgement. Used responsibly, it is a useful tool for learning more effectively; used as a substitute for effort, it loses much of its value.

Learning with AI requires responsibility: cross-check information, protect data and always apply human judgement.

A smarter back-to-school experience

Bringing AI into learning requires deciding when it can provide genuine support. What matters is using it with a clear purpose: studying with greater focus, tailoring content more effectively and learning more independently, while continuing to recognise the importance of reviewing, practising and applying human judgement.

Its real value during the back-to-school period lies in this combination of usefulness, responsibility and continuous learning.