Survey of Cantons Finds No Generative AI Bans as Matura Exams Shift Weight to Oral Defence
No Swiss canton that answered a survey on generative AI in schools is banning the technology, and most are giving more weight to the oral defence of written work instead, Clarus News reported on October 24. The outlet sent the same five questions to all 26 cantonal members of the EDK, the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education, on September 30. By the October 23 deadline seven cantons had replied, six of them in substance: Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Basel-Stadt, Lucerne, Neuchâtel, Solothurn and Zug.
Five of the six have already changed how the Matura paper is assessed. Basel-Stadt goes furthest: students sitting their exams after August 1, 2026 have the oral part weighted at 50 percent instead of one third, with a longer subject discussion. In Neuchâtel's three lycées the oral defence now counts for 40 percent of the grade, while Zug and Lucerne have given more weight to the process and the discussion. Disclosure is the common rule. Lucerne called a general ban neither useful nor practicable, and Neuchâtel treats undeclared AI content as cheating.
The cantons split on AI in grading. Lucerne's vocational education side floated recording standardised oral exams on video and evaluating them with trained AI, while Neuchâtel's principles bar teachers from using AI in summative assessment. Only Basel-Stadt put a figure on the extra workload: about five minutes per student for the longer oral.
What it means in practice
For students, a polished written paper counts for less unless they can explain and defend it in person. That is a cheaper response than detection software and avoids the false accusations detectors can produce, but it takes teacher time and may favour confident speakers. The debate is already live in individual schools, as when a private school in Sion handed exam marking to an AI platform, and researchers are building evidence through the new ETH and EPFL centre on learning sciences and AI in schools.
The cantons do not want binding national rules for general schools, though Lucerne, Neuchâtel, Solothurn and Zug would welcome exchange or recommendations from the EDK. Clarus News cautions that seven replies out of 26 are not a statistic, since cantons with policies in place are more likely to answer.
What to watch: results from Basel-Stadt's first cohort under the 50 percent weighting, Appenzell Innerrhoden's upper-secondary decisions due by the end of the year, and whether the EDK takes on a coordinating role.