9 in 10 university students use AI for study, 6 in 10 worry it’s dulling their thinking: survey

Artificial intelligence has already become central to academic life at South Korean universities, used by the overwhelming majority of students for research and writing.

Yet at the same time, many students are expressing concern that it may be weakening their ability to think critically.

A 2024 national survey of 726 students at four-year universities, conducted by the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training and published in September this year, found that 91.7 percent had used generative AI for research and assignments, and 77.8 percent had used it specifically for writing tasks.

Yet 60.2 percent of respondents also said they feared overreliance on AI could impair their logical thinking and literacy skills.

The findings reflect what researchers called a “dual perception.” Students see AI as indispensable for academic efficiency, yet simultaneously worry about what it may be doing to their cognitive development.

These anxieties are emerging alongside a series of exam cheating controversies at top universities in Korea recently.

At Yonsei University, at least 40 students have officially confessed to cheating on a midterm exam for a class on natural language processing and ChatGPT. The course, which enrolled around 600 students, was conducted online. Some students reportedly manipulated camera angles or used screen overlays to hide their use of AI tools. An anonymous poll among classmates suggested more than half may have used AI during the test.

Similar suspicions surfaced at Seoul National University, where the administration voided a midterm exam after discovering that students had used AI to solve problems, despite instructions not to.

Official figures only hint at the scale of the issue. According to data submitted to lawmaker Kang Kyung-sook by the Ministry of Education on Monday, 224 cases of exam cheating were formally recorded at 49 universities between 2020 and Nov. 17 of this year. Just four of those involved admitted to using ChatGPT. In all four cases, the students received failing grades.

Despite the widespread use of AI, most universities remain unprepared. A 2024 survey by the Korean Council for University Education found that over 70 percent of institutions lacked clear guidelines for generative AI use in classrooms or assessments.

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