Here’s how many teens use ChatGPT for homework help and ‘research’ right now

ChatGPT or CheatGPT?

The number of teens who admitted to using ChatGPT as a homework helper more than doubled from last year, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center.

The team surveyed 13- to 17-year-olds, finding that students are becoming more familiar and comfortable with technology the longer it and others are around it.

According to the survey, around 26% of teenagers used an AI chatbot to help them complete their schoolwork in 2024 – up from 13% in 2023.

The majority (73%) of teens still said they don’t use technology to complete their homework.

But attitudes are changing.

One of the most striking changes from last year is the increased use of ChatGPT by black and Hispanic teens for school-related tasks.

In 2023, 13% of black teens and 11% of Hispanic teens reported using chatbots for academic purposes. However, by 2024, this number increased to 31%.

In comparison, white teens were less likely to turn to ChatGPT for schoolwork, with only 22% reporting its use in 2024, though that’s still an increase from last year.

Along with black and Hispanic students, older teens are also embracing technology to improve their homework help.

Interestingly, there was no significant difference in ChatGPT use based on gender or household income.

“It’s out there,” Pengcheng Shi, an associate dean in the Department of Computing and Information Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology, previously told The Post.

“You can’t stop people from using it, so now the question is how do we use it better,” he added.

How do teenagers think technology can be used appropriately?

In general, adolescents’ acceptance of his role varied depending on the task that was brought into the conversation.

Most teenagers (54%) agreed that it is acceptable to use ChatGPT to research new topics – only 9% disagreed.

However, they were much less supportive of using technology to complete deeper tasks or complete assignments.

Teenagers were divided in their views on using ChatGPT to solve math problems (29% say it is acceptable and 28% say it is not) and mostly agreed that it is wrong to rely on the program to write a essay (18% say it’s OK, but 42% say it’s unacceptable).

“I think the pressure here is less on the students and a lot more on the faculty to find a way to incorporate new technologies,” Jamie Cohen, an assistant professor of media studies at CUNY Queens, previously told The Post College.

“You have to explain how these systems work, what the datasets are, why the datasets are flawed and why this is not an acceptable way to submit a document,” Cohen said.

Students who are familiar with ChatGPT are more likely to use it for schoolwork and find it acceptable – about 56% of those who have heard “a lot” of ChatGPT use it for their schoolwork, compared to only 18% of teenagers who have only heard “a little” about it.

These mixed opinions reflect the ongoing debate about the ethics of using AI tools—conversational updates alongside the technology.