What percentage of secondary school students do their homework with the help of artificial intelligence? - A survey of attitudes towards artificial intelligence

Based on practical experiences, news articles, and subjective reports, a significant proportion of high school students complete their writing assignments (essays) using ChatGPT or other text-generating software. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is a very limited amount of work on this topic. Therefore, our study has two objectives. First, through human coding, we determine whether student essays submitted as homework were created by humans or software, and second, we examine these essays' sentiment and authorship, as well as factors determining the use of artificial intelligence in learning. Data collection was conducted in April and May 2024 across thirty classes from twenty Hungarian high schools. Our results show that 16 % of high school students ( N = 548) wrote their text-based homework assignments using artificial intelligence, though neither age nor parents' average educational level determined the use of AI in learning. Although women have more positive attitudes toward using AI for learning purposes, they are less likely to use it to complete their homework assignments. Finally, we found that fears related to artificial intelligence are general and lack specificity. Our findings have three practical implications: 1) they highlight the need for targeted educational programs to develop ethical AI use, 2) they assist teachers in identifying AI-generated texts, and 3) they draw attention to gender differences in AI usage. • 16 % of secondary school students have used artificial intelligence to do their homework. • The factors that determine the sentiments of students' essays could not be identified in our study. • Women more positive about the use of artificial intelligence in learning. • Women less likely to do their homework with artificial intelligence. • Fears about AI are more general than specific.