Student perceptions of AI: understanding concerns and areas of acceptance is key

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now an entrenched part of the structures and processes that affect our daily lives, including the international student journey. There are pros and cons relating to the risks of AI use, but with quality research and skilled technical awareness we can make the most of the positives and mitigate or cancel the negatives. This article explores and compares our Emerging Futures survey data to reveal student attitudes to AI:

• International students are most concerned about over-reliance on AI reducing critical thinking, creativity, etc.

• There was <1% increase in the use of AI by students globally to help write applications in August 2024 compared to August 2023, but the variation by source market is significant.

• In August 2024, students were less likely to use AI to help them choose an institution or subject than in August 2023.

• In August 2023, 35% of respondents said it made no difference to them whether an institution used AI to assess applications – by August 2024 this had increased to 42%, revealing rising neutrality towards use of AI in application processing.

• Emerging Futures 6 data reveals that 65% of Current students were using AI to improve efficiency; however, they were less likely to use AI for high-stakes tasks such as preparing for exams.

By understanding international student attitudes to and knowledge of AI, we can tailor our products and services to their needs and create the right messaging that will support their education journey.

In our Emerging Future 6 survey we asked Prospective, Applied and Current international students, “what are you most concerned about with AI?”.

We might have expected students to be most concerned about issues that have been heavily reported in recent news cycles, such as bias in application processing and how AI is being trained using their data (data privacy), but these two issues were only placed in positions six and seven out of the ten suggested concerns.

Overwhelmingly, students were most concerned about loss of the human element, especially ‘over-reliance on AI reducing critical thinking and creativity etc’. Of the cohort answering this question, 55% put this in their top three most concerning issues. This was the same for Prospective students. However, when we analysed the responses by study level, Post Graduate students (Prospective, Applied and Current) placed ‘decreased academic integrity’ as their second most concerning issue, behind over-reliance – which suggests they are more concerned about the effects AI might have on the legitimacy of advanced academic qualifications.

All age groups chose over-reliance on AI as their most concerning issue. The second most concerning issue varied among the age groups – young respondents (ages 16 to 21) chose ‘job shortages due to automation’ as the next most pressing concern, while the 22 to 25-year-olds chose ‘decreased academic integrity’ next. Older respondents (26 years and over) all placed ‘loss of human connection’ as their second greatest concern about use of AI. This suggests that younger students (i.e. those likely to join the job market latest) are fearful that AI will affect their ability to gain employment. This might signal changing trends in the types of courses and career paths younger students choose to pursue

All the example concerns offered have some validity with students – for example, 16% ranked the ‘environmental impact of AI’s energy use’ in their top three most concerning issues.

For applications

Globally, there has been a very small year-on-year increase (less than 1%) in student willingness to use ChatGPT / AI for assistance when writing applications to international institutions, but the variation by source market is notable. In August 2023, 73% of students from China answered ‘yes’, but by August 2024 this figure had dropped to 38%. In Nepal, the percentage of students answering ‘yes’ increased from 23% in 2023 to 51% in 2024.

The global neutral response of ‘not sure’ has increased from 10% to 16% and the percentage of students who do not intend to use AI to assist them in writing their application has reduced from 51% in August 2023 (Emerging Futures 4) to 44% in August 2024 (Emerging Futures 6).

For institution or subject choice

However, student willingness to use ChatGPT / AI to help make decisions on which institution to study at and what subject to study has declined by almost 10 percentage points for both activities. This suggests that students are aware of what AI is good at and where it may be lacking. When thinking about ChatGPT, it did not have access to real-time information until May 2023 and then only to premium members until May 2024 so this may be affecting the responses.

We asked Prospective students to tell us how likely they would be to apply to an institution in two situations: (1) if the institution is using AI to assess applications, and (2) if it is using AI to make an initial application assessment with the final decision being made by a member of staff.

In both surveys we can see that students are more confident about the process when humans are involved; however, year on year from August 2023 (Emerging Futures 4) to August 2024 (Emerging Futures 6) we have seen a movement from strong opinions (‘more likely to apply’ or ‘less likely to apply’) toward neutral answers (‘it makes no difference’ or ‘don’t know’).

In August 2023, 35% of respondents said it made no difference to them whether an institution used AI to assess applications, by August 2024 this had increased to 42%.

A greater percentage of the respondents were more likely to apply to an institution if the final decision is made by a human; however, year on year the figure went down by four percentage points and those saying ‘it makes no difference’ increased by three percentage points.

This upward movement towards neutrality is perhaps an indicator that students are becoming less concerned by the use of AI in the application/admissions process, especially as the amount of ‘less likely to apply’ responses decreased or remained stable in these scenarios.

We asked Current students (who were studying internationally at the time of the survey) whether they had used or intended to use ChatGPT or any other form of AI during their studies. Of the seven practical options provided, the highest usage of AI was to ‘improve efficiency’ – 65% said ‘yes’ and 12% said ‘not yet but planning to’.

The next most common use of AI was to ‘support writing skills’ – 59% said ‘yes’ and 13% ‘not yet but planning to’. This was followed by students using AI to ‘assist in research tasks’ – 55% said ‘yes’ and 15% ‘not yet but planning to’.

Of the seven options we provided, the lowest uses of AI by Current students are to ‘perform data analysis’, to ‘automate tasks and processes’, and to ‘prepare for exams’.

These findings reveal that while students are prepared to use AI to help with certain activities and skills, they are less inclined to use AI for the more technical or high stakes tasks, perhaps reflecting that there is an understanding of the capabilities of AI and less trust when it comes to important tasks, such as assessments with direct consequences.

Overall, Emerging Futures survey data reveals that student perceptions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and concerns about its use differ from what we might reasonably expect. International students do have concerns about AI, particularly relating to over reliance, legitimacy of academic qualifications, and AI’s effect on future job opportunities, but their understanding of its strengths and weaknesses is evolving.

During his presentation of this data in November 2024, at ICEF Digital in Berlin, Stewart Nutting, Associate Head of Data Analytics at IDP, noted that across the results there appears to be a reasonable level of acceptance of AI among the students surveyed – students are comfortable in their understanding that AI is useful and that there are efficiencies to be had when it is used, but they are more comfortable when there is a human in the loop.

“The data shows that international students are becoming more pragmatic about AI in education. While concerns around over-reliance and academic integrity persist, there is growing neutrality toward AI in admissions, and students are selectively integrating AI tools where they see clear benefits—primarily for efficiency rather than decision-making.

“As AI continues to evolve, understanding these perceptions will be key to shaping policies and practices that support student success."

To find out more about the Emerging Futures 6 survey findings, please download the Infographic using the button below.