More And More Students Are Turning To ChatGPT For Schoolwork

ChatGPT was the pioneering service in the ongoing artificial intelligence revolution in the tech industry. The chatbot showed in a simple and practical way how powerful and useful the technology could be, causing many big tech companies to jump on the bandwagon. A recent study reveals that students are increasingly likely to turn to ChatGPT for schoolwork. However, this scenario may have a downside.

U.S. students using ChatGPT for schoolwork has doubled since 2023, survey says

In 2023, Pew Research Center conducted a survey on the use of ChatGPT among young people. Now, the same firm is doing a follow-up to update the data. Up to 1,400 American teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 participated in the survey. The results showed that 26% had turned to ChatGPT for school-related tasks. This represents a 100% increase compared to the results obtained in 2023. It seems that as AI becomes more popular and easier to use, more people are encouraged to turn to services like ChatGPT and the like.

54% of respondents said that using ChatGPT to research new topics is acceptable. 29% said that using the chatbot to get help solving math problems is also valid. Lastly, 18% of young people said that using ChatGPT to write essays is acceptable.

While ChatGPT can be a powerful study assistance tool, it is not foolproof. The growth in the number of students using the chatbot for schoolwork could also be viewed with concern. Recent research found that ChatGPT may be less accurate in these types of scenarios than many believe.

The AI-powered chatbot is not the most accurate for educational scenarios

As reported by Techcrunch, a recent study put GPT-4o, OpenAI’s latest flagship AI model, to the test. The researchers used a PhD-level history exam to measure its capabilities. However, the results yielded only slightly more accuracy than a person responding randomly.

The service is not particularly good at solving math problems either. “GPT-4o struggles with multi-digit multiplication, achieving less than 30% accuracy beyond four-digit by four-digit problems,” said Yuntian Deng, an AI-focused assistant professor at the University of Waterloo. A different study from the University of Pennsylvania found that Turkish high school students who used ChatGPT did the worst on a math test.

ChatGPT’s AI-powered search engine also struggles with data retrieval accuracy. However, to be fair, the latter is still an early-stage product. An independent study in Germany found that ChatGPT made it easier for students to find research materials. But, those students were worse at summarizing the content than those who did not use ChatGPT.

Educators still view AI use with skepticism

The use of artificial intelligence is not enticing all education professionals. Another poll by Pew Research found that 25% of teachers in public elementary and middle schools think AI tools hurt students more than help them. In fact, only 18% of teachers in primary and secondary schools allow the use of AI, according to a survey by the Rand Corporation and the Center on Reinventing Public Education.