Open Access

Bozana Meinhardt-Injac, Julius Späte, Lutz Siemer, Stefanie Witter

• Recent advancements in natural language processing (NLP) and large language models (LLM) such as ChatGPT, have generated high expectations and concerns regarding the future impact of AI on education and learning. In light of this, our goal was to investigate the usage of ChatGPT among social work students and to identify factors that predict its adoption according to the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). To achieve this, we conducted an online study with a large sample of social work students (N = 875). The results revealed that ChatGPT has been widely adopted, with 80% of social work students reporting its use for study-related tasks. However, the frequency of use was moderate. Thus, although students experiment with ChatGPT, they do not use it very frequently for their studies. Its primary applications include clarifying questions, explaining concepts, analysing, editing, and writing texts, as well as conducting literature reviews. The frequency of ChatGPT use was primarily predicted by its perceived usefulness, followed by perceived ease of use. Interestingly, affinity for technological interaction did not emerge as a significant predictor. This suggests that even students who are typically less interested in technology are utilizing ChatGPT for their studies due to its perceived usefulness. Overall, these findings highlight the widespread adoption of ChatGPT among social work students and emphasize the importance of perceived usefulness in driving its usage.