As universities rush to establish guidelines for artificial intelligence in academic settings, a fundamental question remains unanswered: what proportion of students are actually employing it?
A confidential survey of 338 undergraduates at the University of Chicago suggests that arriving at a definitive answer may prove challenging—not solely because AI adoption is evolving rapidly, but also because students may not be reporting their usage with precision.
According to the survey, 60 percent of respondents indicated they personally utilize AI tools like ChatGPT. Yet 90 percent stated they believed the typical student on campus makes use of AI.
This 30-percentage-point disparity could indicate that students are underreporting their own AI usage, overestimating how often their peers use it, or a combination of both. Without dependable data on the extent and nature of student AI use, college administrators risk crafting policies grounded in assumptions rather than evidence.
The University of Chicago researchers who conducted the survey suspect that college students are not being forthright about their actual AI usage due to feelings of embarrassment.
"Students don't want to be seen by their peers as incapable of completing the work," said Alex Kale, a computer scientist at the University of Chicago and co-author of the study, which was presented at a conference in Barcelona, Spain, in April. "They don't want to be perceived by their peers as dishonest... And it feels deeply personal."
Kale describes this as "social desirability bias," the human inclination to respond to questions in ways that cast ourselves favorably in the eyes of others (and ourselves), rather than being fully truthful, even in anonymous surveys. In a separate online survey of 98 undergraduates carried out by the researchers, participants indicated that acknowledging AI use was equivalent to admitting you are "not able to complete coursework independently" or are "lazy." Another respondent believed students conceal usage out of fear of being caught and potentially expelled.
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The researchers propose an alternative explanation for the gap. Students may be overestimating the number of peers using AI because it is a highly visible aspect of campus life. They hear discussions about ChatGPT. They observe AI tools open on laptop screens. This can begin to feel like the standard. One survey respondent articulated it this way: "I think only a small portion of students actually rely on LLMs to do coursework, while most students do not. That small portion leads some students to assume most are using it." (The current generation of AI tools post-2022, such as ChatGPT, is often referred to as large language models or LLMs.)
In essence, students may be using AI more than they admit, while AI hype may also be fostering the impression that everyone is employing it.
This same dynamic—a substantial discrepancy between what students admit to doing and what they believe their peers are doing—is frequently observed in public health research concerning alcohol, drugs, and sex. Students often overestimate how much their peers engage in heavy drinking, drug use, or casual sex. This has had significant consequences for reducing unhealthy behaviors. When students believe that "everyone else is doing it," they are more likely to participate themselves. The false perception becomes partially self-fulfilling.
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More than 25 years ago, colleges began to worry that warning students about binge drinking on campus was counterproductive and was actually encouraging students to get drunk. Many changed their approach, downplaying the issue of binge drinking and highlighting statistics showing that most students drink in moderation. The number of students reporting heavy drinking declined, according to some public health officials.
There may be lessons here for promoting responsible AI use, even though the University of Chicago study does not equate AI use with drugs or alcohol. However, it does highlight that perceptions matter. If students believe that nearly everyone depends on AI to complete coursework, they may feel compelled to use it themselves simply to keep pace.
Kristin Fasiang is a graduate student in computer science and learning sciences at Northwestern University. Fasiang reported and wrote this story along with The Hechinger Report's Jill Barshay.
Contact staff writer Jill Barshay at 212-678-3595, jillbarshay.35 on Signal, or barshay@hechingerreport.org.
This story about AI use on college campuses was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers education. Sign up for Proof Points and other Hechinger newsletters.
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by Kristin Fasiang and Jill Barshay, The Hechinger Report June 8, 2026