High School Students' Use and Impressions of AI Tools. ACT Research

There is growing interest in artificial intelligence (AI) tools, especially high-profile tools like ChatGPT, and these tools now appear to be part of the education experience for many high school students. To investigate students' use of AI tools for school assignments, their impressions of how using the tools might affect them cognitively and academically, and their thoughts on using AI tools to write their college admissions essays, ACT developed a survey in June 2023 which was administered to a large nationwide sample of students in Grades 10 through 12. In this study, almost half of the participating students reported that they had used AI tools, and the most common tool they used was ChatGPT. Among students who did not use AI tools, the top reason for not using them was having no interest in them. About two thirds of students also reported that they did not trust the information provided by AI tools, and a little over half indicated that they did not know enough about AI tools to use them. Students with higher academic performance were significantly more likely to use AI tools than were students with lower academic performance. Findings show that these tools appear to have much potential to enhance student learning, but there are concerns about appropriate use and potential negative outcomes.