Finnish AI education featured in Business Weekly

Taiwanese business magazine Business Weekly (商業周刊) published an extensive feature on Finnish education in March 2026. The article covers the Generation AI project and the work of University of Helsinki Professor Teemu Roos on AI literacy. Below is a translation of page 63 of the article.

Caption

Finnish schoolchildren attend school for only half a day, but they have two 30-minute breaks. Even in minus-ten-degree frost and blizzards, schools actively encourage children to go outside and play.

Crafts and creativity

From the first grade, all pupils — both girls and boys — attend woodwork and handicraft classes to learn sawing and the use of tools. Turali firmly believes that wood and the sewing machine represent genuine creativity that AI can never replace — they are an irreplaceable treasure.

Generation AI and understanding artificial intelligence

With the advent of AI, education faces a new challenge: when information is too easy to obtain, pupils more readily accept ready-made answers and lose the ability to think for themselves. That is why Teemu Roos, Professor at the University of Helsinki and a driving force behind the national AI course Elements of AI, and his team have created the Generation AI project, which aims to help children understand the principles, limitations, and risks behind artificial intelligence.

Experiments in schools

In one experiment, 13-year-old pupils used a simulated social media platform. They were then shown how their every click, pause, and rating had been recorded and categorised by algorithms — and how this affected what content and preferences they saw.

In another experiment, upper secondary students got to "train" a small language model themselves. They fed it a large number of fairy tales as training data. When the model was ready, it began seriously producing nonsense: "Finland's economy is bad because the country has semi-animals."

Roos explains that when children understand the principles behind AI, they are better able to recognise the limitations of algorithms and artificial intelligence. This builds the foundation of children's critical thinking in the age of AI.

Resilience and independent thinking are the foundation in the age of AI

These reflections have begun to spark wider debate in society. Haavisto notes that just a few years ago almost every primary school pupil had a smartphone. Today, more and more parents are instead buying smartwatches that can only make calls and have location tracking.

At the same time, children's reading is recovering. Finnish library statistics show that children's borrowing figures have grown for three consecutive years. A campaign has even been launched: "The library you like best is the person who reads a book to you" — emphasising the human connection between parents and children.

Finnish educational thinking is very clear: emotional education and independent thinking are the foundation of everything. Children are taught from an early age to recognise risks — they are taught not only independent thinking but also emotional skills.

9-year-olds learn to spot fake news and use emojis

AI literacy teaching content at Tapanila School:

Teaching theme	Examples of lessons
Digital interaction: Digital empathy	How to respond to messages, use of emojis
Recognising fake news: Checking images, headlines and sources	Evaluating website sources, typos: e.g. NASA written as MASA
Recognising AI-generated images: Detecting image manipulation	Looking for extra fingers, overly smooth faces
Online safety: Recognising scams, privacy protection	Distinguishing phishing messages, don't send photos to strangers
Digital wellbeing: Managing screen time	Phone off 2 hours before bedtime

Source: Tapanila School | Compiled by: Huang Huiqun

Source details

Original publication: 商業周刊 (Business Weekly), no. 2001, 19 March 2026, p. 63 Cover story title: AI時代繼續快樂！芬蘭戰法 (Happy in the age of AI! Finland's strategy) Reporter: Huang Huiqun (黃惠群) Producer: Liu Peixiu (劉佩修) Photographer: Chen Zongyi (陳宗怡)

The article is part of a larger feature for which the Business Weekly editorial team travelled to Finland to interview more than 40 people ranging from members of parliament to school principals and Uber drivers. The feature examines how Finland — the world's happiest country for eight consecutive years — responds to the challenges brought by AI through an equality-based strategy.

Parts of the feature (no. 2001)

AI席捲全球最快樂國能繼續快樂？ – AI sweeps the world – can the happiest country stay happy?
芬蘭送孩子的AI時代超能力為何教看著眼睛道歉、分辨假消息？ – Finland's gift to children for the age of AI: why teach them to look people in the eye when apologising and spot fake news?
一家公司倒下，整個國家醒來諾基亞殞落讓芬蘭變新創國 – One company fell, a whole country woke up – Nokia's collapse turned Finland into a startup nation
為何芬蘭選擇慢而平等的AI革命？ – Why did Finland choose a slow but equal AI revolution?
採訪後記：小國芬蘭的快樂密碼：「你的不完美很完美」 – Reportage postscript: the happiness code of small-nation Finland – "your imperfection is perfect"