The University of Australia has taken another step forward in the production of AI teaching experiments. Macquarie University has used some of the courses developed by the school. Virtual Peer AI chat robots to assist students with curriculum issues, learning materials and situational learning. The British Guardian reported on 2 September 2026 that the two compulsory courses in psychology at the school had shifted some of the study activities originally undertaken by the entity tutorian to Virtual Peer, leading to a discussion of student teaching time, the value of tuition fees and AI ' s role in the university classroom.
According to Maquarie University official student information, "some of the subjects" in the school can be used as a tool to assist in understanding the outcome. The pilot information previously published by the school indicates that the Virtual Peer has been deployed to several course modules, mainly as a student support and course content support tool.
Virtual Peer, what is it?
Macquarie University locates Virtual Peer as a school-based AI-powered student support chatbot. Official information indicates that this tool was initially introduced on a pilot basis into modules with high-level attendance and high-level interaction needs, allowing students to ask questions about administration and course content outside the classroom.
In a presentation published in 2025, the school stated that Virtual Peer had supported the convention. 15,000 students, 24 teaching modules It was also stated that some routine academic e-mails could be reduced during the pilot period, while providing all-weather learning support. These figures are the result of a pilot that was published by the school itself and could not be read directly into AI for all courses.
The point of contention is not "can't we use AI" but how many face-to-face teachings?
The core of this coverage in The Guardian is not whether Macquarie allows students to use generating AI, but the ratio between AI activities and entity tutorian.
It was reported that two compulsory psychology subjects were used for situational learning activities by AI Chatbot. These AI activities are not in themselves an evaluation project, and the final results of the students are still dominated by formal findings, such as research work and examinations; Some students, however, felt that the learning experience would be affected by reducing the number of compulsory classes that could have been discussed face-to-face with teachers or students.
The official version of Macquarie University emphasizes that the purpose of Virtual Peer is to support students rather than to replace teachers in their entirety. As can also be seen from the school ' s existing Unit Guide page with student access, the use of Virtual Peer in different subjects is not exactly the same; Some courses remain face-to-face practicals or tutorian.
The University of Australia is entering the "AI Design" phase.
This incident reflects a larger change: the discussion of AI in higher education in Australia has shifted from the earlier "prohibiting or allowing students to use ChatGPT" to "how the curriculum itself should be redesigned".
For universities, AI can provide immediate questions and answers, situational simulations, formative feedback and a large number of student support; However, if AI is used as a substitute for interactions originally provided by teachers, assistant teachers or tutorians, it can also be derived from questions of the quality of teaching, student participation, teacher-student relations and the reasonableness of fees.
Thus, in comparing universities in Australia, future students may not simply look at the availability of AI tools, but should further confirm whether AI is an additional learning resource or a replacement for part of the original teaching hours.
Implications for Taiwanese students and families
In the future, Taiwan students who are going to study in Australia can ask three additional questions in their choice of school and course: how many entities are there in a given course per week? AI Supplementary learning or replacement of substantive courses; And whether AI will affect the form and academic integrity requirements of ACSS.
In particular, international students usually pay higher tuition fees than local students, and parents are naturally concerned about the actual availability of teachers to interact with school experiences. AI itself does not necessarily reduce the quality of teaching, but transparency in the curriculum becomes even more important when universities are reconfigured to teach.
At present, it can be confirmed that the Virgin Peer of Macquarie University has actually been enrolled in several courses; The percentage of use in different subjects and whether to reduce the number of face-to-face hours should still be based on the number of Unit Guides and timetables during the school term.
