【Canada】More Young Canadians Are Tapping AI for Learning, Even When Concerned About It

by

Editor’s Note

As AI becomes an increasingly common tool in education, this article explores how Canadian students are navigating its benefits and ethical challenges.

CBC News Morning Brief
Students Embrace AI as a Learning Tool

More Canadian post-secondary students are turning to AI for schoolwork and are eager for additional opportunities to learn how to use it. Nearly three-quarters of young adults who responded to a recent KPMG Canada survey said they use generative AI for their work, up from 59 per cent last year.

Yet students are still worried about cheating and its impact on their critical thinking, with some experts saying more clarity and support from instructors and institutions is needed.

AI as a ‘Springboard’ for Thinking

Studying for a recent computer science midterm, Elaine Xiao just couldn’t wrap her head around certain concepts. So, she popped open ChatGPT for a quick explanation.

“It really talks to you in a way that is easy to understand,” said the Canadian student, who’s in her first year at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

With her school and professors explicit about when and how students can use AI, Xiao feels comfortable turning to it as “a springboard” for thinking.

“It can be really helpful … by helping me overcome the barriers along the way,” Xiao said. “Not having it do the work for me, so that I still learn, [but] just at a faster rate than before.”

Most of the young adults who responded to the KPMG Canada survey reported that the technology has led to better grades and improved their work. Still, 57 per cent of them worry they’re cheating when using AI, while 66 per cent believe they’re learning less.

Calls for Clear Ethical Guidelines

That disconnect suggests institutions need to give students more clarity on how to use AI ethically, says Rob Clayton, KPMG’s national education lead in Canada.

“Let’s think about how we embed this in our day-to-day activities because … the students are using it on a very frequent basis,” he said from Ottawa.

A new section of the survey looked at young people’s beliefs and behaviour around AI. For example, most respondents worried about finding work if AI eliminates entry-level jobs, while more than half said they trusted AI over humans at times.

“We need to dig deeper and to really understand how [young people are] interacting with it, why they’re using it and what they think they’re getting from the AI tool that they’re not necessarily getting … from a human-to-human connection,” Clayton said.
Calls to Rethink Assessment

Having encountered professors very strict on AI (banning grammar correctors or spell-checkers, for instance), Jazmine Kennedy largely avoids it.

“It’s not worth the risk,” said the fourth-year English major at Simon Fraser University.

Yet she knows students who, for instance, have no qualms about pasting an essay assignment’s instructions and marking rubric straight into ChatGPT and submitting its response. Then, there are even other AI tools that make chatbot-generated text read more naturally.

With the tech so easy to use and so much pressure on students today to get good grades, Kennedy thinks educators should rethink their assessments and reimagine assignments — perhaps less regurgitating of information and more learning about analyzing online info and determining credibility.

Full article: View original |
⏰ Published on: October 09, 2025