More than half of teenagers in the United States use artificial intelligence tools for help with their schoolwork, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.
Fifty-four percent of teenagers aged 13 to 17 said they had used chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Microsoft’s Copilot for tasks like researching school assignments or solving math problems, Pew said in a report published on Tuesday.
In 2024, 26 percent of U.S. teens said they had used ChatGPT for their schoolwork, according to a previous Pew study asking specifically about their use of that chatbot. That was a twofold increase compared with 2023, when only 13 percent of students said they used ChatGPT for school help, according to Pew, a nonpartisan research center.
The latest report, based on a survey of 1,458 teenagers and their parents last fall, found that A.I. use among teens varied widely. While 44 percent of teens said they used A.I. for “some” or “a little” schoolwork, 10 percent of teens said they turned to chatbots for help with all or most of their schoolwork.
“We’re definitely seeing that the use of A.I. chatbots for help with schoolwork is becoming a common practice for teens,” said Colleen McClain, a senior researcher at Pew and a co-author of the study.
The findings come amid a heated national debate over the spread of generative A.I. systems, which can produce human-sounding texts, create realistic-looking images and make apps.
A.I. proponents say schools must teach students to use and assess A.I. chatbots to prepare young people for changing workplace needs. Critics warn the bots can produce misinformation, mislead students, undermine critical thinking, help lead to self-harm and facilitate cheating.
Several recent studies suggest chatbots may hinder critical thinking and impede learning. In one study on reading comprehension from Cambridge University Press & Assessment and Microsoft Research, students assigned to take notes without using chatbots showed better reading comprehension than students assigned to use chatbots to help them understand text passages.
The Pew researchers asked teenagers a variety of questions about their views and use of A.I. Many young people use chatbots as multipurpose platforms for learning, entertainment, advice and companionship, the results show.
Among the teenagers, 47 percent said they had used chatbots for fun, while 42 percent said they used the tools to summarize content. A smaller group, 12 percent, said they had used bots for advice or emotional support.
The report also shed light on how teenagers are using A.I. tools for school.
Nearly half of teens said they had used chatbots for research, and more than 40 percent used A.I. for help solving math problems. More than a third said they had used bots to edit their own writing.
The survey did not ask students whether they had used chatbots to write essays or generate other assignments, the kind of cheating problems that teachers across the U.S. have warned about. But nearly 60 percent of teens told Pew that students at their school used chatbots to cheat “very often” or “somewhat often.”
The results, the report said, indicate that teenagers think “cheating with A.I. has become a regular feature of student life.”
Natasha Singer is a reporter for The Times who writes about how tech companies, digital devices and apps are reshaping childhood, education and job opportunities.
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