ROME (Reuters) - Italy is introducing artificial intelligence in its schools as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government explores new ways to close the country's digital skills gap with other European Union members.

Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said this week - when schools reopened across Italy - that AI-assisted software would be tested in 15 classrooms across four regions, with a view to expand the scheme later if the experiment is successful. 

AI tools on classroom tablets and computers will act as "virtual assistants that can make learning easier for students and help teachers identify methods for an increasingly bespoke education," the minister told the TGcom24 news channel.

Italy has one of the worst basic digital skills scores in the 27-member EU, according to the bloc's statistical agency Eurostat, faring better only than Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania.

Few details were given about the initiative, however. Valditara's office was not able to confirm the names of the schools that would test the new technology and expand on its workings.

However, the planned evaluation of the trial starting with this school year is "promising", Francesca Bastagli, head of research at the Fondazione Agnelli educational think tank, told Reuters on Friday.

"It will hopefully tell us what works and what is needed for future rollouts of AI tools in schools to be inclusive and effective", she said.

Italy's AI-push for schools came as the minister also issued a blanket ban on the use of mobile phones in classrooms, even for educational purposes.

Past attempts to digitalise Italian schools have proven difficult, including during the COVID pandemic, partly due to the advanced age of teaching staff, with more than half of them aged 50 or older, according to OECD data.

Meloni has made AI one of the themes of this year's G7 summit, which was hosted by Italy. In their final communique, leaders said they would deepen their "cooperation to harness the benefits and manage the risks of (AI)".