- ChatGPT use for homework doubled in one year to 26% among US teens
- Most Teens Think Using ChatGPT for Research is Fine
- Much less support for using ChatGPT to write essays or solve math problems
I’m old enough to remember teachers saying we couldn’t use a calculator on exams because we wouldn’t always have one in our pockets, and comparing essays that looked familiar to their entry on the Encarta CD-ROM encyclopedia. Today’s teachers are faced with much more sophisticated tools offered by ChatGPT and other AI chatbots, whose popularity has skyrocketed among students, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center. The percentage of teens using ChatGPT for schoolwork doubled from 13% in 2023 to 26% a year later.
Let’s face it: homework isn’t always the most exciting part of a teenager’s life. It’s no surprise that many teens turn to AI for academic help. But the details of how students use ChatGPT are a little more nuanced. Pew research found that a slight majority of 54% of teens agree with using AI chatbot for tasks like researching new topics, which is hard to say is an attempt to cheat. That approval drops to 29% for using ChatGPT to solve math problems, and only 18% of teens think it’s acceptable for ChatGPT to write essays for them.
The prominence of ChatGPT makes it probably the most widely used of many options. Even if all respondents were scrupulously honest about whether they used ChatGPT for schoolwork, that doesn’t mean they haven’t dabbled with Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Meta AI, Microsoft Copilot, or any of the million or so apps that serve as containers for the model. by ChatGPT. The Digital Education Council published a survey in August that pegged overall student use of some form of AI at a much higher 86%.
Academic AI
Students who not only submit written essays on ChatGPT may actually be creatively enhancing their education. With the right approach, AI can be a great educational complement, but never a substitute. Even the best ChatGPT message won’t replicate the experience of struggling with an idea until you finally get it. There are already some experiments along those lines, with Arizona State University (ASU) working with OpenAI to incorporate ChatGPT and London’s David Game College running an AI-taught class as part of its new Sabrewing program.
There is cause for concern that students become too reliant on AI and do not learn to think critically and solve problems independently. On the other hand, AI in education can mean, if harnessed properly, offering students access to personalized resources they would not otherwise have. That’s the most difficult resource, but probably the best, since even the strictest policies are unlikely to prevent students from using AI in any possible context. I would need a school that replaces all assignments with oral presentations and requires all research to be done using paper books to avoid this.
