Being a teen has never been easy. Our kids are figuring out who they are and what they want to be, navigating school and sometimes overwhelming amounts of homework, possibly worrying about getting into college, and … well, the list goes on. And while all of this has been true since we were teens, this new generation has an added stress factor (or school helper, depending on your point of view): AI.
The fact is, AI is infiltrating schools, and teens today are taking advantage of it. According to a SheKnows survey of 25 teenagers aged 14-20, a whopping 84 percent of them interact most with AI for help with homework, with 40 percent of them using it for school-related purposes between two and five times a week. Eight percent said they use it for school work more than five times.
Our survey also revealed that while 88 percent agree that using AI is definitely cheating when it comes to in-person quizzes or exams, only 12 percent considered it cheating to use AI when doing their homework. And while many of them consider some use of AI cheating, only 17 percent of teens have worried about actually getting into trouble for using it. Another finding that could seriously alter the way our teens are taught in school: A whopping 72 percent think in-person tests and essays will become more important in the future with the rise of AI.
Earlier this year, the Pew Research Center did its own survey on AI and found that the percentage of teens who use AI for schoolwork has risen from 13 percent in 2023 to 26 percent. It also revealed that 9 percent of teens reported it acceptable to use ChatGPT to solve math problems, with 18 percent saying it’s acceptable to use ChatGPT to write essays.
So how, exactly, are today’s teens using AI in school — and what do they really think about it? We wanted to hear from teenagers themselves. Below, read what members of our SheKnows Teen Council had to say.
Is AI already changing school?
Chloe, 18
“I do think that AI will bring back a lot more in-person assignments. I feel like it’s kind of damaged the way that we do our work. I feel like it’s a huge question nowadays whenever you submit something, like every teacher’s kind of like ‘just so you know I’m going to scan it through AI’ and ‘I’m going to put it through the generators.’ So, I think that a lot of teachers are going to shift to more in-person essays and quizzes just to make it easier on their end.”
Juliet, 17
“In-class participation [and] in-class writing will be graded a lot more heavily and will be a much more main part of the grade and a much more main part of how you do in the class, rather than take-home assessments or take-home essays.”
Clive, 16
“I think that teachers don’t really realize how much you can use AI for yet so I get a lot of essays and work to do at home that you can easily use AI on and I think they’re going to realize in the next couple of years that like how much you can use it and how hard it is to detect and I think that’s when there will be a shift toward more standardized testing in class or things they can moderate and make sure you’re not cheating on.”
So, how do teens really use AI in school?
Cameron, 17
“I only use AI for things I genuinely just can’t understand no matter how hard I try. Like if I miss a class or something, I’ll take a picture of the homework and have it explained, and that’s about it.”
Meera, 16
“I use AI to support and enhance my work. For example, in my Spanish class, our teacher gives us review sheets, and I use AI to create additional ones for extra practice. I also use AI to brainstorm thesis topics and generate research ideas.”
Sophie, 17
“I see almost in every one of my classes, most people like, if we’re working on an assignment, will just copy and paste it in ChatGPT. So I feel like I definitely use it a lot less than my classmates around me, just because I feel like it’s become so normalized in my school, which is not good.”
Lilla, 17
“I usually use AI when it comes to the more technical side of stuff, like math and science and physics and that sort of thing. For the art and writing side of stuff, I’m a very artistic person and I’m very against using AI for that kind of thing because it really takes away people’s creativity.”
Juliet, 17
I don’t want to use it when it comes to writing; I value my writing and want it to come from my head and my heart. But for physics and math and that sort of thing I don’t mind using it for that to explain stuff to me, but I don’t want to use it if it’s for a writing assignment.”
Sophia, 17
“I’ve kind of also replaced [ChatGPT] for Google. Like, if I just open my phone, I ask it instead of Google, because I feel like with Google you have to click on the links and all that. I just want it right away.”
Has Using AI Ever Backfired?
Meera, 16
“AI also has this thing, especially ChatGPT, I believe, where it can like search the web for you, but sometimes when it does that, it can also incorrectly cite from a source…. A lot of the time, it’s not accurate.”
Lilla, 17
“There have for sure been times where I’ve gone to look something up and it has just been completely wrong. I’ve gone to fact-check something before and there was nothing similar to any of the other information I found.”
Taryn, 14
“It tells you on ChatGPT: ‘ChatGPT is not always right.’ Sometimes if I tell it it’s wrong, it just changes its answer. So, it’s not really that helpful in some ways. It’s definitely not always right, and you can’t rely fully on it 100%.”
How Have Teachers Responded to AI?
Clive, 16
“One thing that I realized that I thought was kinda weird, I guess, is that my history teacher completely uses ChatGPT. I’ll ask her for ideas, and I was like, ‘Where are you getting these from? It’s pretty impressive. It’s just off the top of your head?’ Then she flipped her computer around, and it was just straight ChatGPT. So, I feel like if that’s where she’s getting her sources from, I feel pretty safe doing the same.”
Justin, 15
“Our robotics teacher just embraced AI; he allowed us to use AI as long as we cited it.”
Addison, 15
“The restrictions work in some classes… But if anyone you know, and there are a lot of kids that do, have a MacBook or anything else, they still have access to those [AI programs] even if they are on school Wi-Fi. I feel like for a lot of kids who have school-issued Chromebooks, there’s not really a way to get around that.”
Is It Cheating?
Juliet, 17
“I think it just honestly depends on human nature. People who were cheaters who like to cheat were going to cheat before AI, and were going to find a way around it before AI, and were going to crash and burn at the end. Even with AI, the people who want to find a way around are going to find a way around.”
Clive, 16
“I think it’s pretty much like cheating in all forms if you’re using it to make content.”
If your teen is interested in joining our Teen Council and wants to know more, please email us at teencouncil@sheknows.com
More Stories from Parenting
