79% of Students Use AI for Assignments, but Training Lags Behind
A ThinkYoung survey found that 47% of students had been taught how to use AI. OpenAI called for supporting teachers and expanding student AI education while continuing to assess its impact on learning.
OpenAI on November 10 (local time) shared lessons from AI use in education and outlined the work ahead. Drawing on education partnerships across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as new research from ThinkYoung, it focused on helping teachers and students use AI and continuing to evaluate its impact on learning.
Students Are Using AI. Have They Been Taught How?
The ThinkYoung survey found that many students had used AI for assignments, but fewer than half had been taught how to use it. Among student respondents, 79% said they had used AI for homework or assignments, while 47% said they had received instruction on using it—a gap of 32 percentage points.
OpenAI said students should have equitable access to AI tools. It also identified working with partners to design education that helps students understand and use AI as a priority, alongside ongoing measurement and evaluation of educational outcomes.
Its partners included governments and education systems in Estonia, Slovakia, Greece and Italy. OpenAI presented the country examples as early lessons shaped by local circumstances, focusing on building educational capacity in each region and helping teachers use AI.
Can AI Improve Learning as Well as Save Time?
OpenAI described teachers’ use of AI and their experiences of saving time as encouraging early developments. It said the impact on student learning still needed ongoing evaluation.
Supporting teachers was another central theme of the announcement. Alongside teaching students how to use AI, OpenAI emphasized helping teachers put it to use in educational settings.
It identified knowledge acquisition, independent thinking and retention of what students learn as criteria for assessing learning outcomes. OpenAI said AI’s impact on all three areas should be evaluated continuously.
One question to watch is whether regional partnerships narrow the gap between students’ AI use and the instruction they receive. Beyond saving teachers time, a key test is whether AI helps students learn, remember and think for themselves.