Learning · 17 Aug
Students are switching from Google to ChatGPT for physics answers — the shift is steepest outside English-speaking countries
Researchers from Bar-Ilan University and the University of Colorado Boulder analyzed Google Trends and Wikipedia page-view data for physics concepts across more than 20 countries from 2022 to 2025 and found a consistent decline in Google searches and Wikipedia visits as generative AI tools were adopted. The drop was modest in the US, UK and Australia but substantial in many non-English-speaking countries, which the authors interpret as AI removing a language barrier — students getting explanations in their own language rather than relying on English-language resources.
For a learner or teacher the actionable takeaway is about what AI is good for: searches fell much more for topics explained through text and logic than for topics that depend on diagrams, graphs and visual reasoning. Chatbots handle verbal explanations well; visual and quantitative material still needs textbooks, figures and worked problems.
The study, published August 17 in Physical Review Physics Education Research, is observational — it tracks search behavior, not learning outcomes — and the authors stress the data do not show students learning less, only seeking information differently.