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Artificial intelligence has moved from novelty to default across classrooms and lecture halls. In its 2025 survey of full-time undergraduates, the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) found that 92% of students now use AI in some form, up from 66% just a year earlier — the single fastest behavioural shift the survey has recorded. The numbers below, each drawn from a named source, map how far adoption, policy, and evidence have travelled by 2026.
Student adoption is now near-universal in higher ed
HEPI’s 2025 Student Generative AI Survey of 1,041 UK undergraduates recorded the jump to 92% adoption, with the sharpest rise in assessment preparation — up from 53% of students in 2024 to 88% in 2025. In the United States, the pattern holds younger. Pew Research Center found that 26% of US teens aged 13–17 had used ChatGPT for schoolwork by early 2025, double the 13% of 2023; by its fall-2025 survey, published February 2026, 54% of teens said they had used chatbots to help with schoolwork. Common Sense Media reached a similar conclusion earlier, reporting that seven in ten teens had used at least one generative-AI tool, and 40% had used one for a school assignment.
Teachers moved from experiment to routine
Educators are catching up fast. RAND Corporation‘s 2025 survey found that 53% of English language arts, math, and science teachers used AI for school — with use for instructional planning alone leaping from 25% in 2024 to 53% in 2025. A Gallup and Walton Family Foundation study of 2,232 US public K-12 teachers found that 32% now use AI at least weekly, and that weekly users save an average of 5.9 hours — the equivalent of six weeks over a school year. In higher education, the Digital Education Council‘s 2025 Global AI Faculty Survey of 1,681 faculty across 28 countries reported that 61% of faculty have used AI in teaching.
Academic integrity: detection at scale, trust in question
The integrity debate now runs at industrial scale. Turnitin reported that in the first year of its AI writing detector it reviewed over 200 million papers, of which roughly 11% contained at least 20% AI-written text and about 3% contained at least 80%. Detection accuracy remains contested: educators cite unstable results on short submissions and elevated false-positive rates for non-native English writers, which is why many institutions treat detection scores as a signal rather than proof.
The evidence on learning outcomes is early but striking
Rigorous outcome studies are scarce, which makes the World Bank‘s Nigeria trial notable. In its study “From Chalkboards to Chatbots,” 800 senior-secondary students in Edo State used a Microsoft Copilot-based tutor for six weeks of after-school English. The programme produced learning gains the Bank estimated at the equivalent of roughly 1.5 to 2 years of ordinary schooling, with the largest effects among girls — ranking it among the most cost-effective interventions ever rigorously tested. Researchers stress the central role of teachers guiding the sessions and the need to study long-term effects before scaling.
Institutional policy is racing to catch up
Governance has lagged adoption but is closing the gap. An earlier UNESCO global survey found fewer than 10% of schools and universities had formal guidance on generative AI. By its September 2025 survey of 400 UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks across 90 countries, nearly two-thirds of higher education institutions either had AI guidance or were developing it. Faculty, though, remain unconvinced of the substance: the Digital Education Council found 80% of faculty feel their institution’s AI guidelines are not comprehensive, and only 6% strongly agree they have been given sufficient resources to build AI literacy.
Market: capital is following adoption
Investment tracks the classroom shift. Grand View Research projects the global AI-in-education market will reach $32.27 billion by 2030, registering a compound annual growth rate of 31.2% from 2025, driven by generative-AI tutors and adaptive-learning assistants deployed across schools, universities, and online platforms, with Asia Pacific the fastest-growing region.
Frequently asked questions
What share of students use AI for schoolwork in 2026?
In UK higher education, HEPI found 92% of undergraduates use AI in some form (2025). In the US, Pew Research reported 54% of teens have used chatbots to help with schoolwork (survey conducted fall 2025, published February 2026).
How many teachers use AI?
RAND found 53% of English language arts, math, and science teachers used AI for school in 2025, while a Gallup-Walton survey found 32% of US K-12 teachers use it at least weekly, saving weekly users about 5.9 hours.
How large is the AI-in-education market?
Grand View Research projects the global AI-in-education market will reach $32.27 billion by 2030, at a 31.2% CAGR from 2025.
Sources
- HEPI, Student Generative AI Survey 2025, Feb 2025 — https://www.hepi.ac.uk/reports/student-generative-ai-survey-2025/
- Pew Research Center, About a quarter of US teens have used ChatGPT for schoolwork, Jan 15 2025 — https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/01/15/about-a-quarter-of-us-teens-have-used-chatgpt-for-schoolwork-double-the-share-in-2023/
- Pew Research Center, How Teens Use and View AI, Feb 24 2026 — https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2026/02/24/how-teens-use-and-view-ai/
- RAND Corporation, AI Use in Schools Is Quickly Increasing but Guidance Lags Behind, 2025 — https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA4180-1.html
- Gallup & Walton Family Foundation, Three in 10 Teachers Use AI Weekly, Saving Six Weeks a Year, Jun 2025 — https://news.gallup.com/poll/691967/three-teachers-weekly-saving-six-weeks-year.aspx
- Digital Education Council, Global AI Faculty Survey 2025 — https://www.digitaleducationcouncil.com/post/digital-education-council-global-ai-faculty-survey
- Turnitin, Turnitin marks one year of its AI writing detector, Apr 2024 — https://www.turnitin.com/press/turnitin-first-anniversary-ai-writing-detector
- Common Sense Media, The Dawn of the AI Era, 2024 — https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-dawn-of-the-ai-era-teens-parents-and-the-adoption-of-generative-ai-at-home-and-school
- World Bank, From Chalkboards to Chatbots: Evaluating the Impact of Generative AI on Learning Outcomes in Nigeria, 2025 — https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/11125.html
- UNESCO, Two-thirds of higher education institutions have or are developing guidance on AI, Sep 2025 — https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-survey-two-thirds-higher-education-institutions-have-or-are-developing-guidance-ai-use
- UNESCO, Less than 10% of schools and universities have formal guidance on AI — https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-survey-less-10-schools-and-universities-have-formal-guidance-ai
- Grand View Research, AI In Education Market Size To Reach $32.27 Billion By 2030 — https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-artificial-intelligence-ai-education-market