On May 16th, during the closing ceremony of the 2025 World Digital Education Conference, CNAES officially released the Global Digital Education Development Index (GDEI) 2025. The findings of GDEI 2025 reveal that 4 educational goals advocated by President Xi Jinping in his congratulatory letter to the International Conference on International Conference on Artificial Intelligence & Education in 2019—"accelerating the development of lifelong education for everyone, equitable education for everyone, personalized education for everyone, and more open and flexible education"—have taken root and flourished globally.
Firstly, multiple countries are systematically developing application-support ecosystems to facilitate lifelong education for every individual. 37.5% of nations have developed AI resources, products, and services tailored for educational scenarios. Singapore has integrated AI learning tools into students' learning environments. China has established a national smart education public service platform that accompanies the growth of every citizen throughout their lives.
Secondly, countries are accelerating efforts to enhance public artificial intelligence literacy, promoting equal access to education for all. 55.6% of nations are developing AI education curriculum systems. The United States has launched the "EducateAI" initiative, providing AI education to all students and adults. China has integrated AI courses into compulsory education as a mandatory subject.
Thirdly, leading digital education nations are actively exploring multi-scenario and full-process practices to promote education tailored for everyone. 42% of countries are investigating the application of artificial intelligence in teaching. Japan utilizes AI to customize learning pathways for students. China's National Smart Education Platform continues to undergo intelligent upgrades and scenario-based demonstrations.
Fourthly, the world is focusing on building the foundation for governance in educational transformation, fostering a more open and flexible education system. Approximately 50% of countries have established relevant organizations or policy frameworks. The European Union has enacted EU AI Act. China has issued related laws and regulations, established specialized institutions, and conducted systematic governance, laying the groundwork and safeguards for creating an open and flexible education system.
The GDEI2025 has achieved 3 expansions based on the evaluation paradigm of multi-modal evidence from the previous year: first, by broadening the scope, the number of participating countries increased from 62 to 72 as evidence continued to accumulate; second, by innovating methods, leveraging technologies such as large models to assist in evidence collection and analysis; and third, by adding dimensions, introducing a thematic analysis on "Artificial Intelligence + Education" in addition to the original six dimensions.Based on the analysis of multi-modal evidence regarding the development of global digital education, the overall level of global digital education has steadily improved over the past year, with the global index average increasing by 4.54%, and relative rankings remaining stable. With the widespread application of generative artificial intelligence technologies such as ChatGPT and Deepseek, "Artificial Intelligence + Education" has emerged as a new trend in the transformation of global digital education. Over 95% of countries are focusing on this theme. Nearly 80% of countries have released AI strategic plans, positioning education as a key pillar of their national AI strategies. The United States, China, and South Korea stand out with particularly notable advantages in the overall development of "AI + Education." The United States excels in the research and development of large model technologies, while China demonstrates strong momentum in the exploration of large model applications.
Li Yongzhi, President, CNAES, expressed his hope that through the GDEI, it would be possible to showcase the global landscape of digital education development, delve into multi-dimensional innovative scenarios of digital education, and gain insights into the promising vision that digital education brings to the world.
Looking ahead to the future of digital education, Li Yongzhi proposed 8 pathways for reference: building an innovative educational model based on the concept of teaching thinking chains, leveraging intelligent agents to deepen the integration of AI and education, guiding classroom teaching paradigm innovation with digital pedagogy, making STEM innovation a strategic choice for future talent cultivation, emphasizing social-emotional learning to foster harmonious human-machine coexistence, focusing on algorithmic governance to ensure educational technology develops in a positive and ethical direction, recognizing the digital divide as a new variable in defining educational equity, and embracing collaborative creation as a critical pathway for the high-quality development of digital education.