ChatGPT or CheatGPT?
The number of teens who admitted to using ChatGPT as a homework helper has more than doubled in the last year, according to a recent survey. Pew Research Center.
The researchers surveyed teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 and found that the longer students were exposed to technology, the more familiar and comfortable they became with it.
According to the study, approximately 26% of teens will be using AI chatbots to complete schoolwork in 2024, up from 13% in 2023.
The majority of youth (73%) say they still do not use technology to complete assignments.
But attitudes are changing.
One of the most notable changes from last year was the increased use of ChatGPT for school-related tasks by Black and Hispanic teens.
In 2023, 13% of Black and 11% of Hispanic teens reported using chatbots for academic purposes. But by 2024, that number had jumped to 31%.
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By comparison, white teens are still less likely to use ChatGPT for schoolwork, with only 22% reporting ChatGPT use in 2024, which is still an increase from the previous year.
In addition to Black and Hispanic students, teens are also embracing technology to improve homework help.
Interestingly, there were no significant differences in ChatGPT usage by gender or household income.
“It's real,” Pengcheng Shi, associate dean of Rochester Institute of Technology's School of Computing and Information Sciences, previously told the Post.
“You can't stop people from using it, so the question becomes how best to use it,” he added.
How do teens think this technology can be used appropriately?
Overall, teens' acceptance of the role depended on the tasks entered into the chat.
Most teens (54%) agreed that they use ChatGPT to research new topics, while only 9% disagreed.
However, they were less supportive of using technology to complete more detailed tasks or complete assignments.
Teens are divided when it comes to using ChatGPT to solve math problems (29% say it's acceptable, 28% say it's not acceptable) and for typing essays. Almost everyone agreed that relying on this program was wrong (18% said it was OK, but 42% said it was unacceptable).
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“I think the pressure here is more on the faculty to find ways to actually incorporate new technology than on the students,” Jamie Cohen, an assistant professor of media studies at Queens College, State University of New York, previously told the Post. .
“We need to explain how these systems work, what the datasets are, why they are flawed, and why this is not an acceptable method for submitting papers.” says Cohen.
Students who are familiar with ChatGPT are more likely to have used it for school work and find it acceptable. Approximately 56% of students who have often heard of ChatGPT use ChatGPT for school work, compared to only 18% of those who have often heard of ChatGPT. I heard “a little” about it.
These differing opinions reflect the ongoing debate surrounding the ethics of using AI tools, a conversation that is being updated along with the technology.
