Among Canadian postsecondary students, most generative AI use is studying support, not outsourced assignments. In a February 2026 online survey of 1,134 students by Academica Group, 84 percent had tried generative AI, 88 percent of those using it for coursework used it as a learning aid, and five percent used it to produce a whole assignment. A Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens, fielded in fall 2025, found a similar pattern of frequent but mostly partial use.
Key takeaways
- Of 950 Canadian students who had used generative AI, 73 percent used it for coursework, and 85 percent of those named ChatGPT.
- Among coursework users, 88 percent used AI as a learning aid, 60 percent to explore ideas, 28 percent to write part of an assignment, and five percent for an entire assignment.
- Fifty-eight percent of Canadian students said their coursework allows AI in some capacity, 30 percent said it does not, and 12 percent were unsure.
- Pew found that 64 percent of U.S. teens use chatbots and that parents underestimate it: about half of parents said their teen does.
- Both surveys are online self-reports and measure what students say, not learning outcomes.
The Canadian survey: who was asked and how
Academica Group, a higher-education research firm, ran the survey on its StudentVu panel from February 4 to 8, 2026. A total of 1,134 postsecondary students at Canadian institutions completed it, and the results were weighted by gender to match Statistics Canada's Postsecondary Student Information System. Academica published the first article of a results series on its forum. The firm has run the study in earlier years, and only its 2024 comparison on rules is used here.
Awareness is close to universal: 99 percent knew ChatGPT, 94 percent knew Gemini, and 85 percent knew Copilot. About 84 percent had experimented with or used generative AI tools, which is 950 students.
What students use it for
Among the 73 percent of AI users who applied it to coursework, the most common purpose was learning support: 88 percent used it to clarify concepts, generate explanations, or study, and 60 percent used it to brainstorm or understand unfamiliar topics. Writing part of an assignment was reported by 28 percent. Using it for a complete assignment was reported by five percent.
Differences by field were visible. Part-assignment use was higher in business programs (37 percent) and in computer science, IT, and engineering (34 percent) than in science and mathematics (16 percent). University students were slightly more likely than college and polytechnic students to use it as a learning aid, 90 percent against 82 percent. Computer science and engineering students also reported using a wider range of tools.
Rules and clarity
Whether a student may use AI depends on the instructor and the institution. In 2026, 58 percent said they were allowed to use it in at least some capacity, 30 percent said they were not, and 12 percent were unsure. Academica notes that uncertainty has fallen compared with its 2024 edition and links the change to clearer instructions from institutions and instructors. For a student, the practical meaning is that the same prompt can be allowed in one course and a violation in the next, so the course outline is the controlling document.
A U.S. comparison from Pew
Pew surveyed 1,458 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 and their parents from September 25 to October 9, 2025, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. In its report on how teens use and view AI, 64 percent of teens used chatbots and about three in 10 did so daily. Thirty-five percent used them to edit their own writing. About a quarter called chatbots extremely or very helpful for assignments, another 25 percent somewhat helpful, and three percent said they helped little or not at all.
Pew's 2024 survey of teens asked which uses were acceptable. Researching a new topic was acceptable to 54 percent of teens, solving math problems split 29 percent acceptable against 28 percent not, and writing essays was acceptable to 18 percent and not to 42 percent. Teens, like the Canadian students, drew a line between help understanding and help producing.
Side-by-side summary
| Measure | Canadian postsecondary students (Academica, February 2026) | U.S. teens (Pew, fall 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Sample | 1,134 students, online panel | 1,458 teens, online Ipsos KnowledgePanel |
| Any use | 84 percent used generative AI | 64 percent used chatbots |
| Heaviest reliance | Five percent: an entire assignment | 10 percent: chatbots help with all or most schoolwork |
| Rules | 58 percent allowed, 30 percent not, 12 percent unsure | Not reported |
The groups, wording, and denominators differ, so each column reports one survey's own result and is not a ranking of the two countries.
What these surveys cannot show
- Whether use improved or reduced learning, since neither survey measured outcomes.
- How accurately students report behavior they know may be disapproved of.
- How students outside the panels are doing, since both samples come from online panels.
Pew also found that 12 percent of teens had used chatbots for emotional support or advice and 16 percent for casual conversation. Those uses sit outside coursework and are a reason for families to ask how a given tool treats sensitive topics.
FAQ
How many Canadian students use generative AI?
In Academica's February 2026 survey, 84 percent of 1,134 postsecondary students had experimented with or used it, and 73 percent of those users had used it for coursework. The result describes that panel, not all Canadian students.
Do most students use AI to write their assignments?
The surveys point the other way. Five percent of Canadian coursework users reported using AI for an entire assignment, and 28 percent reported using it for part of one, while most described studying uses.
Is student AI use allowed?
Rules differ by course. Fifty-eight percent of Canadian respondents said they were allowed to use it in some capacity, 30 percent said they were not, and 12 percent did not know.
Is there an official Canadian count of student AI use?
None was found in Statistics Canada material for this article. Available figures come from private survey panels, which makes them useful as indicators but not as national statistics.
Related reading
- How AI is applied in education
- AI activities for the classroom
- How GPT-based chatbots work
- Whether AI can have feelings
More in AI in education.
Last verified: October 2026
Sources
- How are Canadian postsecondary students using generative AI today? Academica Group StudentVu survey, 2026
- How Teens Use and View AI, Pew Research Center, February 24, 2026
- About a quarter of U.S. teens have used ChatGPT for schoolwork, double the share in 2023, Pew Research Center, January 15, 2025