Is mathematics different? Student usage of GenAI for mathematics versus general purposes in higher education

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has recently permeated many facets of society, including higher education. Answer engines, which could provide students with solutions for complex computations in mathematics, have been freely available since 2009. However, prior research on these and other emerging technologies has shown that availability of a mathematical technological resource does not necessarily translate into widespread usage of this resource. Therefore, it is prudent to investigate usage levels of GenAI in relation to mathematics in higher education, and to discover if this differs from usage levels in other areas, as well as what tools students are using. In this study, we conducted a survey of almost 700 undergraduate students in an Irish university who were taking at least one mathematics module. The anonymous survey was undertaken online in March 2025. The results showed that 91% of respondents used GenAI for mathematics purposes and 89% for non-mathematics purposes. Of the former, 23% had used GenAI for mathematics for the first time in the previous month, compared with 9% of the latter using GenAI for non-mathematics purposes. The most commonly used GenAI tool for both mathematics and non-mathematics purposes was ChatGPT, by 90% and 95% of the sample of users, respectively.