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For today\u2019s college students, attitudes toward AI can seem paradoxical.<\/p>\n
On one hand, they\u2019ve made their ire toward the technology clear: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was met with hisses during his commencement remarks at the University of Arizona\u2019s graduation ceremony on Sunday when he invoked the inevitability of a future with artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question is not whether AI will shape the world. It will,\u201d Schmidt said, pausing for a moment as students booed. \u201cThe question is whether you will have shaped artificial intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just days earlier, real estate executive Gloria Caulfield told graduating students at the University of Central Florida, \u201cThe rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution.\u201d One audience member jeered in response, \u201cAI sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the outward disgust toward the AI boom doesn\u2019t tell the full story of the 2026 graduating class\u2019s relationship to AI. The same cohort is also adopting the technology at a rapid clip, with 57% of U.S. college students reporting using the AI tools in their coursework weekly, and 20% using it daily, according to the Lumina Foundation-Gallup 2026 State of Higher Education study published last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some are even using this tool illicitly in the classroom. Jacob Shelley, an associate professor of health law at Western University, said he was overwhelmingly convinced his students cheated on the final exam for one of his classes, with many using AI tools to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe results were anomalous,\u201d he told Fortune, noting 8% of his class getting a perfect score on the multiple choice section of the exam while many either struggled on the essay portion or gave written responses with content Shelley hadn\u2019t taught in class. \u201cThat just never happened in 20 years of teaching.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Princeton University faculty voted last week to rescind its 133-year-old honor code and proctor all in-person exams to mitigate cheating using AI. Stanford University senior Theo Baker wrote in a New York Times op-ed this week that \u201ccheating has become omnipresent\u201d at his college.<\/p>\n
But where some see a contradiction, experts see a peek into the minds of young graduates\u2014the first generation of college students to experience their four-year undergraduate experience with tools like ChatGPT, launched in late 2022, at their fingertips.<\/p>\n
Gen Z\u2019s AI cognitive dissonance<\/p>\n
Maitraye Das, a computer science professor at Northeastern University, studies Gen Z\u2019s attitudes toward AI use, and a report she published last year found most college students use AI, but many don\u2019t disclose it. <\/p>\n
She identified the phenomenon as a form of cognitive dissonance, a psychological pattern in which a set of behaviors may contradict a belief system, leaving individuals to alter either their attitude or actions toward a certain topic.<\/p>\n
In the case of her research, Das found students feared using AI would impede their critical thinking skills and learning goals. But at the same time, they felt they couldn\u2019t afford not to use AI tools, feeling they would be left behind by peers continuing to use the technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe job market already seems precarious to them, and so even the students that did acknowledge that, \u2018Oh, if I just use AI to do my homework, that will stunt my critical thinking,\u2019 they still kept using it because the cost of not using it felt higher to them,\u201d Das said.<\/p>\n
Indeed, a stagnant job market, along with tech leaders warning of mass AI job displacement, has instilled fear in many recent grads. In March, Anthropic released a report revealing that AI could theoretically take over most tasks in business and finance, management, computer science, math, legal, and office administration roles, including 94% of tasks for computer and math workers.<\/p>\n
Concerns around AI taking certain jobs have already begun to materialize as anecdotal evidence, despite no widespread proof of AI markedly changing the labor market. Tech layoffs have topped 110,000 in the first five months of this year alone, with companies like Snap announcing it would eliminate 16% of roles, about 1,000 employees, as it leans into AI.<\/p>\n
While students see AI as a threat, Das said, the proliferation of AI in the workplace, as well as in schools\u2014where last year about 30% of teachers said they use AI at least weekly\u2014has also created a justification for them to use the technology, even if it means cheating or keeping quiet about their own AI use.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are thinking, \u2018People rather than me are using AI. Why am I held to a different standard? Why can\u2019t I use AI?\u2019\u201d Das said. \u201cSo instead of disclosing their AI use or limiting their AI use, they reframe the social context to make their behavior around secretly using AI to feel more acceptable to themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
How society shaped Gen Z\u2019s AI struggles<\/p>\n
Widespread messaging about AI in commencement speeches\u2014typically coming from AI stakeholders\u2014have only grown the chip on Gen Z\u2019s shoulder around AI use, according to Das. Skyrocketing tech stock valuations and the growth of the Magnificent 7 have created a K-shape of who stands to benefit from the technology\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents feel that there\u2019s a corporate mouthpiece narrative,\u201d Das said. \u201cThey are facing this very real fear of not landing a job, and so especially the tech CEOs, when they come to these commencement stages and encourage and cheerlead AI, I think students feel a disconnect there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shelley, the health law professor, agreed that students cheating with AI is less of an endorsement of the technology and rather a survival tactic\u2014perhaps even one they resent.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI is going to replace them, at least a lot of them, and they know that, and we\u2019re pretending that it won\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cI think they see through it. So students are responsible, but I don\u2019t really blame them here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the blame, Shelley argued, lies with educational institutions themselves, which have advocated for students to use AI. Two years ago, Arizona State University launched a collaboration with OpenAI to develop AI tools for higher education. But overall financial aid for colleges is lower now than it was 15 years ago, forcing some students to take part-time jobs. Now strapped for time, they feel like AI is the only way to accomplish their assignments, Shelley said.<\/p>\n
Das noted that AI authorities, including higher education institutions, have done a poor job identifying what jobs will be created as a result of AI and subsequently encouraging the appropriate form of upskilling. The overall effect is students feeling disenfranchised from their future, resorting to shortcuts that may ultimately not prepare them with the tools or values to thrive as they take their next steps into the world, the experts warned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worst thing we could do is blame students here,\u201d Shelley said. \u201cIt\u2019s our job to teach them, to nurture them, to inspire them, to guide them. It\u2019s our job to educate them, and it\u2019s our responsibility as society to take a deep look and go, \u2018Why has this happened?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
#College #student #booing #commencement #speakers #mentioning #cheat #exams<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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