Competitiveness over homework means parents are happy to pay for AI

Competitive anxiety about their child falling behind means parents are more willing to pay for AI tools, finds new research by the University of Cologne.

The study, conducted by Professor Christopher Roth, investigated how strongly the behaviour of other teenagers’ use of AI influence parents’ decisions and found the more young people use AI the higher the willingness to pay.

Parents were presented with different scenarios regarding AI usage among teenagers: 20, 40, 60, or 80%. For every 10-percentage-point increase in the assumed usage, the willingness to pay rose by an average of $1.38. Between 20% and 80% usage the willingness to pay increased by more than 60%.

For parents, the decisive factor was that their child should not fall behind other teenagers. The study also reveals that information alone about the risks, such as long-term learning losses, cannot combat this.

“Whilst the information about risks did change their attitudes towards AI as support for school-wide rules or bans increased from 44 to 57%, the willingness to pay individually for an AI subscription remained virtually unchanged.

“It highlights that social forces operate with enough strength to sustain adoption of a technology that parents themselves view with ambivalence,” says Professor Roth.

The study surveyed over 2000 parents from US, Canada, and UK and was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).



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For more information, a copy of the study, or to speak with the researcher, please contact Katie from BlueSky Education on khurley@bluesky-pr.com or +44 (0)1582 790708.