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Roughly half of high school students report using popular AI tools, according to a new report ACT. Students who do not use the tools seem to be more skeptical of the technology, the study says.
Among the study’s key findings:
- Forty-six percent of students surveyed report that they had used AI tools. Of those who report using AI tools, 46 percent say they use them for school assignments.
- The main reasons for not using AI tools include a lack of interest in them (83 percent), not trusting the information they provide (64 percent), and not knowing enough about them (55 percent). Other reasons for not using AI tools, based on students’ written responses, include considering the use of AI tools immoral or unethical, viewing the content or information provided by AI tools as inaccurate, and being willing to do the work by themselves and not seeing the need for using AI tools.
- AI tools are most commonly used in language arts, social studies, and science classes, at 66 percent, 49 percent, and 37 percent of students using the tools for those types of classes, respectively.
- Despite nearly half of students using AI tools for school assignments, 62 percent of students say that teachers do not allow use of AI for schoolwork.
- The most common AI tools used by students include ChatGPT, Dall-E-2, and Bing Chat.
- Of the students who used AI tools for school assignments, a majority (63 percent) report that they found errors or inaccuracies in the generated responses.
- AI tool use is significantly related to students’ academic achievement; students with higher ACT Composite scores are more likely to use AI tools than those with lower scores. Fifty-three percent of students with an ACT Composite score in the top quarter of respondent score distribution used AI tools, compared with 36 percent of those in the bottom quarter.