Half of university students using AI to help complete coursework
MORE than half of UK university students have used generative artificial intelligence to help them with their studies, a survey suggests.
A poll of 1,250 undergraduate students through the Ucas admissions service suggests 53 per cent of students have used generative AI to help prepare assessments. Among these students, the most popular use is as an “AI private tutor” with 36 per cent reporting that they used AI to explain concepts to them. Other popular uses of AI include suggesting ideas for research and summarising articles, the report found.
More than one in eight undergraduate students (13 per cent) said they have used AI to generate text for assessment but they edited the content themselves before submitting it, according to the report from the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), a think tank.
The rise of generative AI tools, such as CHATGPT and Google Bard, has sparked concerns of cheating among students. But the report by Hepi suggests only 5 per cent of students surveyed admitted incorporating Ai-generated text into assessments without editing personally. The study, carried out in November 2023 in partnership with Edtech company Kortext, suggests a “digital divide” in AI use may be emerging. It found nearly three fifths of students (58 per cent) from the most privileged backgrounds reported using generative AI to help prepare assessments, compared with about half (51 per cent) from the least privileged backgrounds. Those with Asian ethnic backgrounds are also much more likely to have used generative AI than white or black students, and male students use it more than female students.
The report calls on institutions to provide AI tools for those who cannot afford them to prevent the “digital divide” growing, It adds institutions should develop clear policies on acceptable AI use. Nearly two in three students believe their institution has a “clear” policy (63 per cent) and their institution could spot work produced by AI (65 per cent), the survey suggests.
Josh Freeman, policy manager at Hepi and the author of the report, said: “Students trust institutions to spot the use of AI tools and they feel staff understand how AI works.
“As a result, rather than having AI chatbots write their essays, students are using AI in more limited ways: to help them study but not to do all the work.”
He added: “For every student who uses generative AI every day, there is another who has never opened CHATGPT or Google Bard, which gives some students a huge advantage. The divide will only grow larger as generative AI tools become more powerful.”
Mr Freeman said that institutions “should educate students in the effective use of generative AI – and be prepared to provide AI tools”.
A spokesman for Universities UK said: “Currently, all universities have codes of conduct that include severe penalties for students found to be submitting work that is not their own and engage with students from day one to underline the implications of cheating and how it can be avoided.”