The share of students using artificial intelligence (AI) tech to help with homework rose sharply in 2025, according to a new report from RAND Corporation, highlighting rapid adoption of the technology across middle school, high school, and college levels.
The report, issued on March 17, found that 62% of students reported using AI for homework in December 2025, up from 48% in May of last year, with middle and high school students driving the increase.
At the same time, student attitudes toward AI are shifting, with many expressing concerns about its impact on learning. Sixty-seven percent of students said increased AI use for schoolwork harms critical thinking skills, a rise of more than 10 percentage points over a 10-month period.
The findings – based on a survey of 1,214 respondents ages 12 to 29 in December 2025 –point to growing unease among students even as adoption expands. The report notes that most students who use AI worry about its broader effects, creating what researchers describe as ambiguity in how to navigate its role in schoolwork.
Students also draw distinctions between acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI. While most did not view AI use for general school-related purposes as cheating, using AI to get answers for homework stood out as a notable exception.
Perceptions and experiences varied by grade level, with older students more likely to say AI rules differ by teacher, believe their teachers check for AI use, and worry about being accused of cheating.
Female students were more likely than male students to say AI harms critical thinking and to believe teachers are monitoring its use, the report says.
The report suggests that these uncertainties and concerns should prompt educators to take a more active role in guiding students’ use of AI.
Among its recommendations, the report urges schools to directly engage students in conversations about how AI affects learning and critical thinking, and to solicit student input on productive and unproductive uses of the technology.
It also calls on educators and district leaders to identify when AI use supports deeper learning – referred to as cognitive augmentation- versus when it replaces student thinking, known as cognitive offloading.
To address these challenges, the report recommends clearer policies and consistent guidance on when AI use is allowed, as well as instructional approaches such as a “flipped classroom” model.
That model, the report says, is one in which “students are first exposed to new content at home (whether AI-assisted or not) and then do independent or group practice with that new content during teacher-led class time that is AI-free.”
“Regardless of which instructional model schools use, school principals and district leaders need to explicitly tell students when and for which purposes they may use AI and when they cannot,” the report recommends.
Establishing transparent rules and expectations, the report’s authors say, could help reduce student confusion and concerns while ensuring AI supports, rather than undermines, learning.
