Agreements on education-AI integration reached at World Digital Education Conference

The 2026 World Digital Education Conference released eight major consensuses and agreements in east China's Hangzhou City on Tuesday, with attendees rallying around solutions and standards for promoting the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and education worldwide.

The results included an initiative on AI education and an upgraded version of China smart education public service platform.

The three-day conference, which opened on Monday, aims to build an open and inclusive global dialogue platform and promote consensus and norms on artificial intelligence (AI) governance in education.

Themed "AI+ Education: Transformation, Development and Governance," the event attracted over 850 guests from 65 countries and regions around the world.

"This conference has surpassed the previous three editions in terms of international influence and participation, with more than 500 foreign guests in attendance. During the conference, we also signed intergovernmental agreements on AI education cooperation with Uzbekistan and Brazil. Meanwhile, AI cooperation has also emerged as a new hotspot in cooperation between schools and between enterprises and universities," said Yang Dan, director at the department of international cooperation and exchanges of China's Ministry of Education.

According to the data released by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the world will still need approximately 44 million teachers by 2030.

Facing this fundamental challenge, participants at the conference agreed that it is also necessary to stay alert to ethical and security issues as AI is increasingly used in education. "Having an eye on the ethical use of AI and to avoid any harm on the education. Looking forward to continuing this deep partnership with China in education and using technology in education in an ethical and inclusive and equitable way," said Khaled El-Enany, director-general of UNESCO.

Agreements on education-AI integration reached at World Digital Education Conference

Japan's household spending fell 2.9 percent in inflation-adjusted real terms year-on-year in March, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline, government data showed Tuesday.

Households of two or more members spent an average of 334,701 yen (around 2,100 U.S. dollars) during the month, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.

Household spending is a key indicator of private consumption, which accounts for more than half of Japan's gross domestic product.

The Engel coefficient, an economic indicator representing the percentage of a household's total expenditure spent on food, reached 28.8 percent in 2025, the highest recorded level since 1980, the government data said.

Japan's household spending drops 2.9 pct in March