A team of researchers in the College of Business is looking for survey responses to measure the usage of artificial intelligence among students.

Alexander Chen, professor of management, is leading the research team. He said that the ultimate goal of the research is to expand it nationwide, but the team needs more responses first.

Chen said the rise in AI, specifically the virality of programs like ChatGPT, happened in the “third quarter of last year.”

The study will “give us sort of the foundation assessing the students’ attitude and behavior usage patterns” toward artificial intelligence, he said.

“It’s booming, exploded. A lot of people in Arkansas are still not widely using it. We want to let students know the pros and the cons — where to use, where not to use it,” Chen said.

In his curriculum, he offers assignments that integrate AI. Chen said he is teaching a class in the spring entirely focused on AI in business management called AI for Management. 

Chen said that as AI increases in popularity in the workforce, it is important for students to know how to use it so they remain competitive.

“I want people to change the image. AI is okay. It’s not the best thing for schoolwork, but it could be the best skill you have to know for your employability and success,” Chen said.

The survey encompasses basic questions about student usage and attitudes toward AI. 

Chen said for the best results, they need at least 2,000 responses. As of Nov. 5, the survey has roughly 400 responses with a heavy number of those from students in the College of Business.

Chen said that professors from other areas of campus, such as liberal arts, should promote the survey to their students because the results will be beneficial to the university as a whole.

“We have to get students to think about the new stuff and we have to put the new paradigm,” Chen said. “ We want to, in addition to our college, we want to sort of encourage our colleagues in other colleges [to] look at different perspective [and] gradually implement” some AI learning into the curriculum. 

Tracy Suter, chair of marketing and management, is also a researcher on the project. He said the study is primarily focused on technology adaptation, which he said follows a bell curve model.

Suter said that first, a small group of people adopt a new technology upon its release. Then, a second group comes after seeing the trial and error of the first group. After that, the technology will reach a peak adaptation when its known to the masses.

A good comparison, he said, may be the adaptation of the internet. 

“There are different takes on when the internet started,” Suter said. “You can talk to people who are immensely ingrained within it and said this has been around since the 60s and 70s. 

“And other people say, Oh, no, no, no, the internet did not come into being until the 90s,” he said. “The reality is, both groups are right and here’s why. The group that was using it in the 60s and 70s — that was that stage one group.

“The people who realized that it was around [in the 90s] — that was that stage two group.

“But the big difference was we went from it being a tool that was only used by a select few, to something that now had commercial appeal,” Suter said.

“That’s what we’re seeing with AI. It’s been around for 20-25 years easy. But now people are looking at it from a perspective of ‘Does it have commercial appeal?’’

Suter believes that the current AI usage on campus, and in Arkansas overall, is in stage two of the bell curve. He said that the technology has not yet hit its mass appeal stage.

Suter said that the research being conducted will help further measure how ingrained AI-usage is on campus, and he said he expects it to follow the normal bell curve of tech adaptation.

Students interested can scan the QR code to follow the link to the survey. Chen said he hopes to finalize responses by the end of the semester.