According to a new survey by ScholarshipOwl, carried out among more than 12,000 high school and college students, nearly every member of Gen Z is now using AI for homework. 97% of respondents indicated that they used tools such as ChatGPT.
More than one in five students admitted to using AI to write an admissions or scholarship essay before even starting on campus. About 31% said they created essays with AI, and 35% said they used it for homework. Another 66% use AI for learning, 56% for test preparation, and 46% for note-taking. What used to be considered a “cheat” is now available within a single browser tab.
“Honestly, I’ve never met a student who hasn’t used AI or never used AI to write off an assignment. AI is just part of the student workflow now.” said Roy Lee, a former student at Columbia University.
He admitted that he wrote 80% of his college essays using ChatGPT. Lee was later suspended from Columbia University for developing an interview cheating tool, which eventually led him to co-found the startup Cluely, which he says helps users “cheat everything.”
“I think it’s perfectly fine to use AI to work more efficiently and learn concepts. But if using AI means you’re not learning anything in the process, that’s probably unfair.” said Dr Thomas Lancaster, an expert in academic integrity at Imperial College London.
ChatGPT was the most popular tool among students — it was used by 80% of respondents. Besides it, Quizlet, Grammarly, Brainly, Google Gemini and other platforms were actively used. Some students combined up to six tools at once, combining writing, research, planning, and assignment services with minimal effort.
According to a separate MIT study, students who wrote essays using ChatGPT showed the lowest levels of brain activity and became less engaged, often simply copying off prepared answers.
Richard Clark, a college admissions expert and executive director of Strategic Student Access at the Georgia Institute of Technology, believes the admissions system is not keeping up with technological change:
“Frankly, I hope that artificial intelligence will herald the death of admissions and scholarship essays. Nobody likes an essay. And more and more schools that want to hear a student’s voice will soon be able to actually express it – with video, audio and technology that doesn’t just test writing, but highlights who they are.”
