A United Kingdom-wide study has reportedly unveiled that 53% of the country's students use artificial intelligence in essays and other material that they would be graded on but 36% state they use it to understand concepts better.
The study reportedly surveyed over 1,250 students, with the aim to help better understand how generative AI tools are viewed by the students.
The results indicate that 53% of students report using generative AI to assist with test preparation. Specifically, when using generative AI to create text for examinations, more than one in eight students (13%) usually change the content before turning it in.
The most popular application of AI, however, is as a "private tutor with AI" (36%), which aids in idea and concept explanation. This proves to be in line with the students' consensus when asked if AI is acceptable in the academic setting.
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This illustration photograph taken in Helsinki on June 12, 2023, shows an AI (Artificial Intelligence) logo blended with four fake Twitter accounts bearing profile pictures apparently generated by Artificial Intelligence software.
The survey showed that just 3% of students believe that using AI text in evaluations without editing is acceptable, and 66% of students think that using generative AI to explain concepts is acceptable. As for using AI in suggesting research topics, 54% of the surveyed students say it is acceptable. Lastly, 53% say it is also acceptable to use AI in summarizing articles.
Just 12% of respondents believe their institution's policy on AI use is unclear, compared to the majority of respondents, or 63% who believe it is "clear." Also, according to two-thirds of students (65%), their university could identify work done with artificial intelligence.
The study was conducted by the UK's Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), an independent organization that aids in making research-based decisions and policies relating to higher education institutions.
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AI-Assisted Cheating
As per reports, worries regarding student cheating have been raised by the emergence of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Bard but this recent survey found that only 5% of students who were polled acknowledged using text produced by AI in assessments without changing it themselves.
The study also anticipates that universities will take action regarding GenAI and ban students from using the unedited texts from the tools altogether, possibly lessening AI-assisted cheating in the future.
The report maintained however that establishing explicit guidelines on acceptable and undesirable uses of AI is something that institutions should do. Institutions were also recommended to instruct students on how to use AI efficiently and determine whether the information it generates is of a good caliber when there are advantages.
'Hallucinating' AI
According to reports, Dr. Andres Guadamuz, an intellectual property law scholar at the University of Sussex, stated that it was not surprising that more students were using AI and recommended that educational institutions be clear about their policies about the best ways for students to utilize AI for study purposes.
According to Guadamuz, he has made it a policy to discuss generative AI with pupils in an adult manner. letting the pupils demonstrate how they use the tools.
Guadamuz, however, is concerned about the sizeable portion of pupils who are ignorant of the possibility of "hallucinations" and errors in AI. According to the Hepi survey, one in three students who use AI was unaware of how frequently it fabricates data, figures, or academic citations.
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