Artificial intelligence took the world of education by storm during the 2022-23 school year, giving both educators and students very little time to adjust to this new disruptor in K12. Fast forward to today, and both parties have plenty of experience with what is widely viewed as a powerful edtech tool essential to supporting and enhancing learning. And a new survey of K12 students suggests they’ll be using it to speed up their workload this upcoming school year.
The data, which was collected by Junior Achievement USA, an organization that offers programs for fostering work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy, represents the thoughts and perceptions of more than 1,000 students ages 13-17 on how they plan to use generative AI this year. Long story short, administrators and educators should expect to see assignments completed by tools like ChatGPT rather than the student.
According to the data, nearly half (44%) of students say they’re “likely” to use AI to do their school work instead of doing it themselves. However, they won’t do so without feeling guilty. At least 60% of students believe using AI in this manner is cheating.
“Generative AI can be a great tool to boost productivity, but unfortunately many people, especially teens, are seeing it as a shortcut,” said Jack E. Kosakowski, president and CEO of Junior Achievement in a statement. “The misuse of AI to do all schoolwork not only raises ethical concerns, but this behavior could also short-change many students’ educations since they may not be learning the subjects they are using AI for. Given the growing demand for marketable skills, this could become very problematic.”
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An even greater number of students (48%) say they know a friend or a classmate who has used AI to complete their schoolwork. At its core, most students now simply see generative AI as just another tool for schoolwork (62%).
Additional findings
- 24% of students don’t like school or schoolwork.
- 22% said they won’t need to know the information they’re taught because of AI.
- 22% of students said, “Everyone else is doing it,” regarding using AI for homework or assignments.
- 17% believe they’d do poorly in school without generative AI.
