Report: 93.8% of surveyed PhD students use AI for research weekly or daily

The significance here is less the adoption rate than how concentrated it already is: one general-purpose chatbot is cited by most respondents, with the rest trailing far behind, which suggests early lock-in of research habits around a single tool. This affects research institutions, funders and journals more than it affects markets, since the survey captures trust and workflow norms among future researchers rather than spending or procurement. The open question is whether that concentration persists as discipline-specific and institution-approved tools mature, and how trust in AI-assisted research is monitored as this cohort moves into senior roles.