Authors: Maya Mishra and Mazen Morrar
Maya and Mazen are a student employees with Technology Services.
It’s hard to walk across campus without hearing the mention of artificial intelligence, or AI. It is a current staple of college life. Students use generative AI daily to check homework answers, outline essays, solve code and study for exams. For a lot of us, tools like ChatGPT are something we open without even thinking. What started as a cool new resource has quickly become an integral part of everyday college life. Across the University of Illinois, usage varies from person to person. This article highlights student AI use across campus, giving insight into trends and behaviors that shape learning today and helping us understand its growing impact on education.
Student AI use statistics
To better understand campus AI use, a survey of 50 random Illinois students was conducted. Some of the results are below:
Which tools are most widely used? 89% reported using ChatGPT, making it by far the most common tool. About 26% use Microsoft’s CoPilot, while around 5% turn to sources such as Perplexity, Claude and DeepSeek, among others. Only about 7% of students claimed not to use AI at all.
How are students using it? Students stated that they rely on these tools mostly for homework help, such as explaining concepts, doing assignments and debugging code. Others reported using AI for writing assistance, namely drafting emails and essays. As one student put it, “Lots of times the homework is intentionally very hard, and ChatGPT helps make sense of it.”
How often do students use AI? About 60% of students responded by saying that they use AI daily; the main reasons being convenience and efficiency.
Do students think they will continue to use it after graduation? Although a few students mentioned ethical or creative concerns, the majority expressed that AI would remain part of their lives even after graduation with 70% saying that they’ll likely continue using it in their future careers.
Based on the data observed, it’s clear that college students heavily rely on AI nowadays. It’s become a daily companion for many and isn’t showing signs of slowing down.
An LAS student’s perspective
My name is Mazen Morrar, and I’m a senior majoring in communication and minoring in media and political science. Like a lot of students, I’ve found myself using AI more than I ever expected. When I was a freshman, resources like ChatGPT weren’t available, which led me to do schoolwork without the kind of AI support students have today. However, now that AI is very prominent, I have found it to be one of my most valuable tools for learning.
For my communication classes, I use ChatGPT to outline essays which help me start work faster. This is helpful since I get writer’s block and it takes a while to start assignments. Furthermore, when I took gen-ed courses unrelated to my major, I didn’t know many of the concepts being taught; I used ChatGPT to assist my understanding of these topics, and I got A’s in those classes. Now, instead of sitting down for long periods of time figuring out class concepts crucial to doing well, I can use AI resources to make the learning process a lot quicker and easier. Outside of college, I use these resources to come up with cover letter outlines and interview questions to help prepare myself for the corporate world.
Overall, I think AI is an incredibly helpful tool to myself and many others, but there’s a big risk of being dependent on it. Students shouldn’t rely on it as much as they do. It should be used to help you learn and grow, not replace your own thinking.
An engineering student’s perspective
My name is Maya Mishra and I am a sophomore mechanical engineering student. I have found AI, more specifically ChatGPT, to be one of my most valuable tools for learning.
I started using it during my freshman year to help me understand difficult concepts that I didn’t understand. Coming into college without a strong engineering background, I felt really overwhelmed by the jump in difficulty when compared to high school. ChatGPT became my go-to resource to “dumb things down” and make complex content easier to grasp. It broke up topics such as linear algebra, thermodynamics and strength of materials into easy to digest pieces for an inexperienced underclassman. I always seem to ask it questions such as “Explain [xyz] topic in [subject] as if I am a five year old.” And to be completely honest, it has worked!
Outside of academics, I occasionally use ChatGPT to come up with things that I may not want to think about at that moment. For example, the other day I had it come up with my plan for the gym; a process that usually takes me a couple of days. Overall, I think that AI is an incredibly helpful tool and I am all for using it. However, I don’t think that it should be relied on as heavily as it is by many students. I believe that it should be used for its intended purpose, a tool to help you learn and grow, not as a replacement for actually learning.
Looking to the future
The future of AI is constantly evolving, and its presence in our lives is only getting stronger. What once started as a niche has now become something that many people can’t imagine living without. As technology continues to advance, AI will as well. Whether it becomes an even greater learning companion or something entirely different, one thing is for sure, AI isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.