New data that has been released by Pew Research suggests that teenagers from households with a higher income are more likely to have heard of ChatGPT. It looked at kids from households earning $75,000 or more, $30,000 — $75,000, and those in households with less than $30,000.
Pew Research asked teens between 13 and 17 if they had ever heard of ChatGPT or of another AI that's capable of generating text. The poorer a family was, the less likely it was that teens in that home had heard of ChatGPT. Here's a break-down of teens from each income bracket and if they have heard of ChatGPT or not:
Percentage of US teens ages 13 to 17 who have heard about ChatGPT based on income (those who didn't answers aren't shown) | ||
---|---|---|
Household income per year | Have heard about ChatGPT | Have NOT heard about ChatGPT |
Less than $30,000 | 67% | 32% |
Between $30,000 and $75,000 | 69% | 31% |
Above $75,000 | 84% | 16% |
Thankfully, from 2023 to 2024, the kids from the lower income bracket who had heard of ChatGPT had increased substantially (+26% points) compared to the higher-income groups (+10% points on average), but they still lagged behind nonetheless.
Economic factors were not the only determinant that affected if kids had heard of ChatGPT. Race and ethnicity play a part too with 83% of White teens having heard about ChatGPT compared to 73% of Black teens and 74% of Hispanic teens. Overall, 79% of teens have heard of ChatGPT compared to just 67% in 2023.
When asked if it's acceptable to use ChatGPT for homework, 42% said it's unacceptable to use it to write essays while 18% said it was permissible, and another 18% said they don't know — those who don't know about ChatGPT or didn't answer are excluded from this breakdown.
Things changed a bit when we got onto everybody's favorite subject — mathematics. Those who said it's unacceptable to use ChatGPT to solve math problems fell to just 28%, while 29% said it's acceptable and 21% were not sure. Lastly, they were asked about using ChatGPT for research.
Just 9% said that you shouldn't use ChatGPT for research, 54% said it was acceptable, and 15% were not sure. Pew Research also revealed that teens admitting to using ChatGPT in any capacity for school work rose from 13% in 2023 to 26% in 2024. Black and Hispanic students (31%) were more likely to use it compared to White students (22%), and kids in higher grades were more likely to use it than those in lower grades: Grades 7 and 8 (20%), 9 and 10 (26%), and 11 and 12 (31%).
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