79% of students use AI for homework, only 47% shown how: OpenAI

OpenAI's report frames the education question less around whether AI belongs in classrooms and more around how adults keep up with students who are already using it. The ThinkYoung figures it cites, 79% of surveyed students using AI for homework against 47% shown how, are presented as the clearest evidence that guidance has not kept pace with practice. OpenAI links that gap to a broader argument, drawn from debates around PISA and AI, that teachers' expertise and judgement become more important as the tools become more capable.

The partnerships behind the report span Estonia, Slovakia, Greece and Italy, among others, and OpenAI groups their work around three shared priorities: equitable access to frontier AI tools, jointly designed AI literacy programmes, and ongoing measurement and evaluation, adapted to local languages, curricula and institutions. From these, OpenAI draws country-level lessons about public leadership, investment in teachers' skills and confidence, and practical support tailored to local curricula.

OpenAI is careful to present these as early experiences rather than a single model for systems to follow. It notes that teacher adoption and reported time savings are encouraging signals, while acknowledging that questions about knowledge, independent thinking and retention remain unsettled and require sustained evaluation. The report also describes the OpenAI Learning Lab as a venue for bringing education researchers together to study when and how AI can support education systems.