Educational Technology Research

 

Some Numbers from Teen and Young Adult Perspectives on Generative AI: Patterns of Use, Excitements, and Concerns by Common Sense Media

KEY FINDING 1:

Half (51%) of young people ages 14-22 have used generative AI at some point in their lives; however, only 4% report being daily users.

KEY FINDING 2:
The most commonly reported uses of generative AI are for getting information (53%) and brainstorming (51%). Among those who used generative AI, Black and Latinx young people are significantly more likely to use it for most activities.

KEY FINDING 3:
Among those who have never used generative AI, one-third (34%) think it would not be helpful.

KEY FINDING 4:
Forty-one percent of young people believe that generative
AI is likely to have both positive and negative impacts on their lives in the next ten years. LGBTQ+ young people are more likely to say the impact of generative AI will be mostly negative and less likely to say it will be positive compared to cisgender/straight young people.

KEY FINDING 5:
Those who expect mostly positive personal impacts from the future of generative AI describe how broader access
to information will help with school, work, and their wider community; enhance creativity; and foster opportunities for human advancement.

KEY FINDING 6:
Young people anticipating mostly negative personal impacts highlight concerns about the future of generative AI related to the loss of jobs, AI taking over the world, intellectual property theft, misinformation/disinformation, and privacy.

KEY FINDING 7:
Young people want adults to know that “the world is changing,”

“we are the future,” and “AI is the future.” Some are concerned, saying, “AI is very creepy,” and “AI concerns me,” while others are optimistic, sharing sentiments like, “I really cannot wait to see how it evolves in the future.”

Source: Common Sense Media

Some Important Notes from Teen and Young Adult Perspectives on Generative AI: Patterns of Use, Excitements, and Concerns by Common Sense Media

• In the report, “teens” refers to those ages 17 and younger, “young adults” refers to those ages 18- 22, and “youth” or “young people” refers to the entire sample. The term “boy” or “girl” is used for those under age 17. The term “man” or “woman” is used for those ages 18-22.

• Quantitative data was part of a nationally representative survey of 1,274 U.S. based teens and young adults ages 14-22 collected from October to November 2023.

• The survey of 1,274 teens and young adults included two open-ended questions for respondents to share personal perspectives on the future of AI.

• An additional open-ended question was included from a separate survey of 1,545 U.S.-based teens (ages 13-17), with an oversampling for Black and LGBTQ+ young people, that asked about one thing adults should know about how teens use AI.

Source: Common Sense Media

Some Reflections on Teen and Young Adult Perspectives on Generative AI: Patterns of Use, Excitements, and Concerns by Common Sense Media

I think what surprised me the most was the percentage that young people use generative AI. I have only used generative AI twice in my life. The first time being when I used Microsoft's AI Image Generator because I wanted to attempt making the social media trend where you make your dogs into Disney posters. Wording the prompt was quite challenging. The other time being for a discussion board in LIS 702, my instructor stated that was okay to use generative AI to answer the question then below that result, write a better/fix the result. It was interesting to see AI in action in terms of information retrieval.

Why say all this? I say this because I have only used generative AI twice, I have never thought that tons of people use it- especially for the teen/young adult age group. It was a little hard to believe that from that survey group 54% have used generative AI but only 4% use it daily. It feels as if the percentage should be higher for daily users. 

Another statistic that surprised me was the belief that a positive impact of generative AI would be broader access to information. This access would help with school, work, and other areas of human development. I feel that this is a misconception of generative AI personally as it does not tell you new information or provide creative information- it mimics other information. It is not a system that evolves on its own, it is a system that has to be enhanced by other humans and other information. 

From all of this and other findings by different reports and research, I think educational research is crucial for all educators to explore. Being an educator is tough work and not everyone learns the same. While it is wonderful to be an educator and to want to educate others- it is another to effectively do so. With educational research educator goals can be achieved, new learning outcomes can be developed, and students can be better engaged.