Generative AI as a Student Research Assistant: The Relationship of Academic and Research Practices in Higher Education

This study analyzes the observed patterns of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) use by students in higher education through the lens of the sociotechnical systems (STS) theory, focusing on the academic subsystem. The empirical basis is a survey of 2083 students (3686 responses) from seven countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Central Africa. Based on these data, two proxy indicators are proposed: A1, reflecting the overall academic use of Generative AI and A2, characterizing the use of Generative AI in a research context. The results show that Generative AI is widely incorporated into students’ academic activities (A1 = 79.06%), while research-oriented use remains less common (A2 = 46.66%) and varies significantly across subsamples. A joint analysis of A1 and A2, visualized as a zoned space A1–A2, reveals different configurations of academic practices: from a predominance of routine educational use to a more pronounced focus on research tasks. Cross-country comparisons show that in certain contexts (e.g., Kazakhstan and one of the Ukrainian subsamples), Generative AI is more often used in a research context, while in other cases, its use remains predominantly educational and routine. In this sense, the results indicate that Generative AI is beginning to fulfill the role of an emerging student research assistant in students’ academic life: technology has already become a familiar tool for completing educational tasks, but its use in supporting research activities remains fragmented. The proposed model and proxy indicators allow us to describe and compare current configurations of Generative AI use in the academic subsystem. The obtained results provide a basis for further research aimed at a deeper understanding of the factors determining the inclusion of Generative AI in student research practice, as well as for the development of management approaches regarding its use in higher education.