Study Partner or Shortcut? How Students Really Use AI

In 2025, according to the Literacy Trust, around two in three (66.5%) young people aged 13–18 reported using generative AI. Those who did were turning to it more frequently, with 45.6% saying they used AI weekly or more often compared with just 31.1% the year before.

Among monthly users, the most common purposes were asking questions (61.2%), getting help with homework (60.9%), and entertainment (52.8%), reflecting both its role as a learning aid and as a tool for everyday curiosity.

I work as both an educational consultant and an ISI school inspector, and when I sit down with any group of GCSE or A Level students (15–18 years old) and one thing becomes clear almost instantly: AI is no longer something approaching over the horizon; it is woven into their everyday learning. While schools and teachers may be exploring a wide menu of platforms, the students themselves have already strongly converged on one: Open AI’s ChatGPT.

Study Partnership

Significantly, students do not talk about ChatGPT as a machine that does the work for them. Instead, they describe it in terms of partnership. It is the “study buddy” or “private tutor” who can answer questions when teachers are unavailable, rephrase explanations when textbooks seem too dense, and suggest starting points for essays or alternative ways of looking at a problem. They even compared their use of AI directly to asking a teacher in the corridor for a steer, only now the teacher is available 24/7.

Almost every A Level student I speak with (eight out of ten) uses ChatGPT (as opposed to a different AI: all use AI), many even with access to the paid version through family subscriptions, others on the free tier. The distinction mattered to them, not just because of additional features but also because of the sense of fairness that reminds us of the privilege gaps created by private tutoring, access to devices, and other priviledged access to resources. AI, it seems, is already another front in the equity conversation.

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Overuse and Overreliance

Yet their relationship with AI is not without tension. Many admit to what might be called the “overuse phase.” They recall times when they leaned on ChatGPT to complete homework or explain a topic, only to discover later in lessons that nothing had really stuck. The work was neatly laid out on the page, but their understanding was completely missing.

What is fascinating is how many of them then describe scaling back, realising for themselves what appropriate use looks like and where the guardrails need to be. They see ChatGPT as a partner in thinking, not a replacement for it. That kind of metacognitive and reflective adjustment, usually without teacher input, suggests that students are already learning to exercise critical judgment in this space.

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On Teachers’ Use of AI

My conversations with students also surface an intriguing ambivalence about teachers’ own use of AI. Students already suspect (they find it obvious in many cases) that their teachers also use it to save time preparing worksheets or lessons.

Interestingly, they are not opposed to this in principle, provided the teacher was applying the same critical filter they themselves have learnt to apply. What unsettles them is the possibility that unchecked AI errors might slip into the classroom and be passed on as fact. There is, in other words, a clear expectation of reciprocity: if students are to be critical and reflective in their use, so too must teachers.

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On Rules and Self-regulation

When I discuss with them what kind of rules or policies the school should adopt, they resist the idea of prohibition. Instead, they argue for guidance: encouragement to try homework independently first, then turn to AI when genuinely stuck, or to separate the moment of attempting the work from the moment of asking ChatGPT.

It was notable, however, that several admitted their younger selves might not have been so discerning. According to older students, Year 9 students and below are far more likely to use AI as a shortcut than as a partner in learning. Maturity and stage of study seem to shape not only how AI is used, but how wisely.

A factor to consider in this is their tendency toward false attribution: students often assume that their own use of AI is discerning, justified, and helpful, while assuming that others are more likely to resort to cheating, shortcuts, or overreliance.

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What This Means for Schools

These conversations reveal young people who are pragmatic, reflective, and more nuanced than many adults assume. They know AI can hallucinate; they know overreliance erodes learning. But they also know it can be an invaluable ally, especially when the human teacher is not immediately available.

Many also wrestle with the cognitive dissonance of being told to avoid AI while experiencing tangible benefits from it, often the same students who used AI heavily to prepare for GCSE exams and then excelled in assessments where no AI was allowed.

For schools, the implications are clear:

• Acknowledge ubiquity and act accordingly. There will be pros and cons, so engage with the consequences of both. 
• Teach discernment and critical engagement. Support students in using AI as a thinking partner, reinforcing existing metacognition and self-regulation interventions.
• Address equity. Consider access gaps (premium vs free tools, access to devices…) and mitigate them where possible.
• Model good practice and reciprocity by ensuring teachers demonstrate the same critical stance they expect from students.
• Pedagogy first approach. Integrate AI into formative assessment, project-based learning, and opportunities to think critically about knowledge.
• Strengthen CPD. Equip staff with training that goes beyond “how to” and develops judgement, ethics, and pedagogy. 
• Frame guidance by setting clear expectations and erecting appropriate guardrails that encourage responsibility without stifling curiosity and responsible use.
• Shape culture through values. Anchor AI policy in your school’s ethos and be prepared to answer the “why” and the “so that” with clarity and confidence.

AI is not a passing fad for these students; this may well be a new calculator moment. The question is no longer whether they will use it, but whether schools will equip both staff and students to use it wisely.

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“What a child can do in cooperation today, he can do alone tomorrow“

— Lev Vygotsky

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