Ibaraki City, NTT West launch first all-domestic LLM school AI trial

The demonstration addresses a concrete pain point the two partners describe: school administrative information is scattered across multiple files on servers, making search, confirmation and document drafting time-consuming for teachers. Because schools handle highly confidential material, Ibaraki City and NTT West are testing an on-premises generative AI application running on relatively low-cost GPU servers, rather than a cloud service.

Under the division of labor, Ibaraki City provides the trial sites and coordinates teacher interviews and communications, while NTT West handles overall coordination, develops the generative AI application, and runs the effectiveness evaluation. The setup includes access controls based on user permissions and local operation, so the trial can assess both safety and practicality.

Going forward, the two partners say they will use the knowledge and teacher feedback from the trial to study how school-administration AI can be used effectively and safely. They frame the effort as part of accelerating workstyle reform in education, with the aim of giving teachers more time to spend with students.