Back to School Survey: 44% of Teens “Likely” to Use AI To Do Their Schoolwork for Them This School Year

Research by Junior Achievement Shows 60% of Teens Consider the Use of AI to Do Their Schoolwork for Them as “Cheating”

Colorado Springs, CO – A new survey of teens conducted for Junior Achievement by the research firm Big Village shows that nearly half of teens (44%) are “likely” to use AI to do their schoolwork instead of doing it themselves this coming school year. However, most teens (60%) consider using AI in this way as “cheating.” The survey of 1,006 13- to 17-year-olds was conducted by Big Village from July 6 through 11, 2023.

“Generative AI can be a great tool to boost productivity, but unfortunately many people, especially teens, are seeing it as a shortcut,” said Jack E. Kosakowski, President & CEO of Junior Achievement USA. “The misuse of AI to do all schoolwork not only raises ethical concerns, but this behavior could also short-change many students’ educations since they may not be learning the subjects they are using AI for. Given the growing demand for marketable skills, this could become very problematic.”

Additional findings include:

48% of teens say they have known friends or classmates who have used AI to do their schoolwork instead of doing it themselves.
When it comes to reasons why teens use AI to do their schoolwork instead of doing it themselves:
- 62% said AI is just another tool for schoolwork.
- 24% said they didn’t like school or schoolwork.
- 22% said people won’t need to know this information because of AI.
- 22% said everyone else is doing it.
- 17% said they would do poorly otherwise.
- 8% said it’s not important that they know the subjects they use AI for.

While Junior Achievement focuses on financial literacy, work and career readiness, and entrepreneurship learning experiences, ethics is a common theme throughout many of JA’s lessons. This includes the JA Excellence Through Ethics program.

Methodology
This Youth CARAVAN survey was conducted by Big Village among a sample of 1,006 13-17-year-olds. This survey was live on July 6-11, 2023.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have volunteered to participate in online surveys and polls. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to multiple sources of error, including, but not limited to sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. It is nationally representative with set quotas based on census data. The 1,006 completes are all who qualified and completed based on the demographic quota requirements. The MoE is +/- 3.1%.

About Junior Achievement USA® (JA)
Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA programs are delivered by corporate and community volunteers, and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Today, JA reaches more than 3.2 million students per year in 102 markets across the United States, as part of more than 12.5 million students served by operations in 115 other countries worldwide. Junior Achievement USA is a member of JA Worldwide. Visit www.ja.org for more information.

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