More than 90% of teachers express concerns about their overreliance, but less than half teach the use of generative AI in the classroom.
Nearly 95 percent of middle and high school students in Seoul have experience using generative AI tools, a study showed Sunday, and more than 90 percent of teachers expressed concerns about students’ growing reliance on the technology.
According to the July 2025 study by the Seoul Institute of Education Research and Information, 94.7% of 26,541 students surveyed had used generative AI, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. Specifically, 93.8% of middle school students and 96.7% of high school students reported using generative AI tools at least once.
Of the students who used generative AI, 80% said it was for academic purposes, with 42.5% using it for in-class activities and 35.7% for independent study.
It was found that students use generative AI more frequently in language-related subjects such as Korean and English. More than 60 percent of students reported using these tools in language classes, compared to 38.3 percent in math and less than 20 percent in music and art.
In Korean classes, students reported using generative AI to create written assignments, presentations, and visual infographics, as well as to summarize reading passages. In English classes, students reported using the tools to translate sentences and vocabulary and to check pronunciation.
The widespread use of generative AI among students has fueled educators’ concerns about overreliance.
Some 93.4% of 3,334 teachers surveyed said they thought students were too reliant on generative AI tools, while 92.4% expressed concerns about possible plagiarism. Another 92.5 percent said they were concerned that students would passively consume information, which would weaken their ability to think critically.
However, less than half of teachers (47.6%) reported teaching their students how to use generative AI in the classroom.
Among those who did not teach the use of generative AI, the most common reason, at 37.7%, was lack of time after taking other courses. This was followed by teachers saying they did not fully understand generative AI (22.8%) or did not think teaching it was necessary (12.2%).
More than 60% of teachers have used generative AI for classroom operations. Some 58.3 percent reported using it to write student evaluations, while 18.9 percent used it to prepare lesson plans.
Seven in ten teachers reported integrating generative AI into classroom activities, and more than 60% of them use it to assess student work.
