Oral assessments, more security checks and speedier marking are all on the cards as generative artificial intelligence (AI) could transform exams for the next generation of students. As the 2025 exam season drew to a close with GCSE students picking up their results on Thursday, after mostly sitting traditional pen and paper exams, AI is already changing the landscape. Exam preparation is undergoing a revolution, with students increasingly creating personal AI tutors, available around the clock to generate learning materials to suit individual needs that potentially lead to better results. "Using AI can give a student a much better understanding of a subject because they can ask those questions they wouldn't ask in class, or at odd hours, without being judged," said Dr Andrew Rogoyski of the Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI. "It really took off this summer," said Sandra Leaton Gray, a professor of education futures at University College London's Institute of Education. "So they're able to talk to it about the marking frameworks that are in use and upload those, and then they're able to do sample answers on their own. And then they're able to say to the AI: 'How would you improve the answer?' It's like having a tireless tutor."

The art of cheating in exams has come a long way since the days of scribbling a few notes on your wrist. In fact, a new study suggests AI chatbots are making cheating more efficient than ever. Even experienced examiners now struggle to spot the difference between AI and real human students, researchers have found. The experts from the University of Reading secretly added responses entirely generated by ChatGPT to a real undergraduate psychology exam. And, despite using AI in the simplest and most obvious manner, unsuspecting markers failed to spot the AI responses in 94 per cent of cases.

Last month, the House of Commons Education Select Committee heard evidence from Duncan Baldwin, of the Association of School and College Leaders, that technology, and, in particular, online when-ready testing, could spell the end of the summer exam season, and release the financial stranglehold of exam boards on schools. This otherwise very welcome intervention needs to be seen in the context of the wider debate. We must remember the relevance of formal examinations in a world in which the regurgitation of facts cuts less and less ice in terms of future portfolio careers and lifelong learning. Employers are thinking of new ways of filtering applicants using online tests of aptitude and intelligence. The prognosis involves less testing spread over a longer period, which, on the face of it, would be welcome from an educational standpoint.

In a world where teachers are often overworked, could artificial intelligence help teachers with their workload? According to the popular 1960's rock song, "In the year 2525", we start to notice drastic changes in our world; although, according to some education specialists, that may happen a great deal sooner – especially where education is concerned. A conference organised by the Westminster Education Forum held a debate on the future of England's exam system and heard that, in exam halls, the time for change might be a touch nearer than 2525. To be more precise, the consensus was that it would be the year 2025. According to one project put forward, 2025 will see the marking of the exam system taken over by artificial intelligence, eliminating the chance of human error.

According to the 1960s pop hit, it was the year 2525 when we all started to notice dramatic changes to the world we live in. A conference held to debate the future of England's exam system heard that – in exam halls – the time might be a touch nearer. That, according to one projection put forward at the conference organised by the Westminster Education Forum, is the date by which humans will be removed from the marking of the exam system and artificial intelligence will take over. The projection is extreme, but the system is already on course for computers to have a far bigger role in the marking of the system. It throws up some interesting dilemmas.