ChatGPT in higher education

AI-based tools such as ChatGPT have arrived in everyday university life. According to a nationwide study conducted by researchers from the Faculty of Social Sciences at h_da, over 90 percent of students use them in their work. This is a substantial increase in comparison to the first study in 2023, which reported 63 percent. Alongside ChatGPT, the most popular tool is DeepL, which students use for translations. 4,910 students from 395 German universities took part in the study.

By Simon Colin, 21.3.2025

The use of AI-based tools has become the new normal among students. 91.6 percent of interviewees said that they use them in their work (2023: 63.2 percent). They also use them more frequently than two years ago: 26.2 percent of the students interviewed meanwhile use AI tools very often (2023: 9.5 percent), 24.3 percent often (2023: 22.3 percent) and 19.1 percent occasionally (2023: 3.0 percent). While in 2023 36.8 percent of interviewees stated that they never used AI-based tools, this figure has now dropped to just 8.4 percent.

Students are using AI tools more and more frequently to understand complex topics and when they need subject-related concepts explained (66.7 percent, 2023: 35.6 percent). Over half also use AI for analysing, generating and editing texts (51.7 percent, 2023: 24.8 percent), 48.9 percent use it for translations (2023: 26.6 percent). Almost every second respondent relies on AI to source information and review literature (46.2 percent, 2023: 28.6 percent) as well as for problem-solving and decision-making (44.8 percent, 2023: 22.1 percent).

The use of AI is above average among students in the engineering sciences (95.5 percent), whereas it continues to be below average among art and cultural studies students (79.2 percent). The most popular tools by far are ChatGPT, especially the free version (81.5 percent), and DeepL for translations (44.8 percent).

“AI-based tools such as ChatGPT are now an established part of everyday university life and changing the way students learn and work,” says Jörg von Garrel, Professor for Process and Product Innovation with a Focus on Quantitative Social Research at h_da’s Faculty of Social Sciences, who led the study. “The aim of the study was to acquire a thorough understanding of the diffusion, extent and areas of application of AI-based tools in higher education. The results corroborate that AI-based tools have become an integral component of study programmes within a short period and that their areas of application are continuously expanding. That is why is it very important to sensitise students towards a discerning and reflective use of AI tools.”

This time, too, Professor Jörg von Garrel and his team asked students about their use of AI-based tools in their private lives. Although this has also increased significantly, they now use them less than for study purposes: Accordingly, 85.4 percent of the students interviewed said that they use AI tools in the private domain (2023: 67.0 percent). “The figures indicate that students are meanwhile using AI tools both for academic as well as private purposes and that this is increasingly becoming the new normal,” concludes Professor von Garrel.