The Bitesize Guide to AI team asked Computing and ICT teaching specialist, Marion Reilly, to show how the Bitesize Guide to AI can be used in the classroom.
Here's her advice on using the resources:
Artificial Intelligence – it’s something everyone is talking about. Generative AI, Large Language Models, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing - the technology and terminology is moving so fast that it can sometimes seem impossible to keep up!
As the curriculum adapts to include Artificial Intelligence, I think that it's vital for schools to provide accurate, unbiased information about how AI tools work, and how young people can use them confidently, safely and responsibly.
Young people are usually among the first groups to take up and use new technology. As an educator, it’s tempting to assume they know more about it than we do, but there’s a lot of unreliable information out there.
The BBC Bitesize Guide to AI aims to give 14-19-year-olds the skills and knowledge they need to get more confident and comfortable using Artificial Intelligence tools.
Guide to AI collection overview
Watch this film for a taste of what the resource has to offer.
EMMA-LOUISE: Could generative AI be a good study buddy?
GARETH: Can an app really understand how you're feeling?
SOLLY: We can use AI to inspire us, but not to replace true creativity.
ADDY: I can test my knowledge and then personalise the learning.
JULIE: The computer is learning patterns in the data.
ANYA: The app might help you recognise and address critical thoughts and turn them into self-compassion.
JOHN: All of the recommended exercises and tools have been written by our team of, it’s currently about 15 clinicians.
EMMA-LOUISE: I can hear myself in the music!
ILA: AI has the potential to actually make us more human rather than less.
SIAN: It's just so speedy it helps you create a vision straight away.
TOM: Now you're in the game. You're playing as ‘Fantastic-girl’.
SUSAN: So you could be literally anybody you want to be.
NICOLE: Data analytics has been around for a while in football. But not on this scale and being able to do it so expansive, so quick.
ILA: I think it's a really great time to be getting into it.
Making sense of AI tools
This set of 13 short films, articles and quizzes will help young people make sense of some of the ways AI technology is impacting the spaces they inhabit. Gaming, sport, fashion, art and study - all these areas are being revolutionised by AI tools and this collection offers suggestions for navigating some of the bigger issues, including transparency, truth, permission and responsibility.
Designed for young people
The films are hosted by two experienced young people’s TV and media presenters. Gareth Elis and Emma-Louise Amanshia bring a confident, up-to-date and approachable style to the resources. The films also feature young people interacting directly with AI tools, becoming ‘experts', questioning, and learning about what's happening behind the scenes.
Focus on the rewards
I think it’s important young people feel able to explore the exciting possibilities and rewards that AI technology promises, whilst also understanding some of the limitations and potential risks, and how to avoid them. The Bitesize resource aims to make sure teenagers are able to make the most of the opportunities these powerful new tools offer.
Understand the risks
Of course, there are risks with any new technology. AI is already changing the way we make, consume and pay for content. It's having a profound impact on the way we access news and information, so it’s also important to be able to judge how trustworthy sources really are, and when content has been created by artificial intelligence rather than humans.
A guide to the AI essentials
There are seven AI Essentials guides, all featuring young people exploring AI tools and discussing their opinions and experiences, both positive and negative, with the help of one of our presenting duo.
Each guide is built around a short video, specially commissioned and developed for this collection. There’s also a Top Tips section, with key dos and don’ts, and some guides also have a Quick Guide featuring some practical activities to put learnings into practice.
| Art | Addy and Solly investigate whether you can create art with AI tools - can you tell the difference between human and AI-generated art? |
| Social media | Devan and Caelyn have a go at creating virtual influencers using a Generative AI tool – can you trust your social feed? |
| Revision and study | Addy and Solly find out if AI powered by Machine Learning could really be a good study buddy – or is it doing the work for you? |
| Environment and energy | Caelyn and Devan explore how much energy AI tools use compared to other everyday habits. Some results will surprise you! |
| Wellbeing chatbots | Addy and Solly test out an AI wellbeing chatbot created using Natural Language Processing by health professionals – are they reliable? |
| Generating pictures | Toky and Ffion find out that Generative AI using Computer Vision tools can create almost anything you can imagine. |
| Outfits and style | Ffion and Toky investigate whether an AI tool can really pick the perfect outfit for you with the power of Generative AI and data patterns. |
Being inspired by careers with AI
These six films are a fantastic way of exploring how AI is making a positive difference in the world of work. They are each based around an interview with a young person using AI to transform, improve and investigate the world around them, exploring exciting and innovative uses of AI tools.
We talk to scientists, a musician, game creators, a footballer, fashion designers and health practitioners who tell us how AI is inspiring new ways of working, and transforming and expanding what is possible.
| Music | We meet musician ilā Kamalagharan, who uses AI to turn ordinary sounds into choir voices. |
| Conservation | We talk to PhD student Rosie Day, who shows us how she is using AI to help identify dolphins by the sounds they make, to help improve conservation projects. |
| Wellness | We learn from trainee psychologist Anya Aggarwal how AI technology is being used in the development of a mental health support app. |
| Gaming | We meet Thomas Mahoney, a game designer who is using AI to generate personalised characters to get the player inside the game! |
| Fashion | We learn how designer Sian Robinson is using AI tools to transform her fashion design, with photo-realistic designs and 3D sketches. |
| Sport | We find out how footballer and data analyst Nicole Kozlova uses AI technology to analyse player performance and help them improve. |
Coming soon... teacher notes!
Each resource will be complemented by a set of teacher notes that include activities connecting the resources to statutory National Curriculum subjects for KS4, including Citizenship, Relationships Education and Health and Wellbeing Education.
They will include starter activities to do before watching the films, practical follow-up activities for pairs and groups and ideas for discussion and debate. There are also suggestions for drama and role-play activities that will help to deepen young people’s understanding and give them a chance to explore a range of scenarios involving AI tools in a safe and supportive space.
Curriculum links and a programme of study have been carefully mapped to the guide and film content to enable teachers to quickly pick appropriate resources and activities to support learning in their subject area.
This article is written by Marion Reilly and first published in November 2025.
The Bitesize Guide to AI teacher notes will be released in January 2026. Sign up to the Bitesize for Teachers newsletter to receive a notification.
