The largest study of AI use by undergrads is in, revealing disparities in access — and in cheating - Berkeley News
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The largest study of AI use by undergrads is in, revealing disparities in access — and in cheating
Researchers found that how student use, and misuse, AI varies by subject and by socioeconomics.
By Maya L. Kapoor
According to new survey results, using AI is a slippery slope for undergraduates. The more they use it, the more likely they are to cheat with it. But AI proficiency also may be important for career development.
Yan KruKrau via Pexels
May 21, 2026
In a world where AI can generate research papers, solve equations or create art, educators worry about how college students may be using it, misusing it or missing out on it. Yet there have been few comprehensive studies of college students and their AI use.
Now, Igor Chirikov, a senior researcher at UC Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education, has published the largest study of generative AI use by undergraduates, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Technology Sydney and Cornell University. More than 95,000 students at 20 research-intensive public universities responded to questions about how they use AI, including whether they use it to cheat. The findings were published on May 21 in Science.
Igor Chirikov, a senior researcher at UC Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education.Bora Reed/UC Berkeley
“The arrival of artificial intelligence technologies and GenAI tools like ChatGPT was a big shock to higher education and to faculty, to students — to everybody involved,” Chirikov said. “We didn’t know much about how students were using it and misusing it.”
The study, conducted in the spring of 2024, used data collected by Berkeley’s Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium, a group of research universities that collaborate on surveying students to improve higher education. About two-thirds of respondents said they used GenAI, and almost 40% used it monthly or even more frequently. What’s more, at least 9% of students who used AI reported using it to cheat. That number varied significantly by academic discipline, with more non-STEM students cheating with AI than STEM students. But the researchers caution that banning GenAI won’t stop cheating and may even harm students when they look for work in industries that expect AI proficiency.
Chirikov and his coauthors recommend that academic programs find new ways of measuring students’ knowledge and abilities that can’t be faked with AI — not an easy endeavor for programs that require deep critical thinking and skills-building over time.
The study also uncovered a worrying disparity in use of AI by different demographic groups, with low-income, racially underrepresented and female students using AI less. These students may fall behind in college and eventually the workplace because of unequal access to or practice using AI.
Generative AI is evolving so rapidly, Chirikov said, that this survey feels like it’s “from a past life already.” Still, he says his findings matter because they can help universities and students alike think about what uses of AI will best serve them.
UC Berkeley News recently spoke with Chirikov about the rising number of students who are using AI, what universities can do to test student learning and how to make sure that students with fewer resources can still develop the AI proficiency they may need in their careers.
Your study found that it’s not always clear to students what is cheating versus what is an acceptable use of generative AI, and that there can be a slippery slope to cheating — 26% of daily AI users said they used it to cheat, while only 7% of monthly users did. Could you talk about that a little bit?
AI policies are very different across courses, from faculty allowing AI throughout, including on exams, to completely banning it.
Right now, when you Google something, you use AI, because there’s usually a quick summary that pops up that’s AI-generated. Or when you use a grammar and editing tool, sometimes there are also AI integrations, and you’re just one click away from AI rewriting the whole piece. The level of integration of those tools is incredible, and they are very tempting to use. For students, it’s very hard to self-regulate and to navigate this complex environment in terms of classroom AI policies.
We don’t know whether frequency of AI use causes students to cheat more, or just students who are more likely to cheat in general tend to use those instruments more often. But the trend is really worrisome in that you see this clear correlation where AI misuse increases as students use AI more frequently.
What do you think motivated the students who knew they were cheating, or thought they were, and did it anyway?
The survey is fielded at research universities that are selective, where a lot of bright students are in this competitive environment where grades matter so...