Current status of responsible use of generative AI in senior high school science teaching in China

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) rapidly becomes as a powerful education tool globally despite varying opinions about it. Under the ethical threats and safety concerns of GenAI, China set four goals for GenAI education, released specific advisory on the educational use of GenAI at primary and high schools in May 2025, and announced the ethics and guidance for teachers using GenAI tools in November 2025. Despite the goals and guidance set by the Ministry of Education of China, the current status of guided responsible use of GenAI in senior high school science teaching is unclear. This rapid review summarizes the national guidance for GenAI, categorizes the current use of it for teaching different science subjects, and suggests responsible applications of this technology at senior high school in China based on 99 articles published from January 2025 to January 2026 and 2 demonstration lessons. It seems that the current responsible use of GenAI for senior high school science teaching in China is overwhelmingly limited to GenAI-aided cases for geography and information technology (52.5%; 52 out of 99 articles) while the GenAI tools used in these cases vary from ChatGPT to four mainstream Chinese GenAI tools. Within one year after the announcement of national guidance, there is yet a standard approach for applying GenAI at senior high school science teaching, though cases and demonstration lessons are becoming available to teachers nationwide. At the era of GenAI, it is challenging but necessary to guide both teachers and students for the use of this technology in senior high school science teaching and learning in China.