Grassroots AI Adoption Under Crisis — Independent Surveys of Palestinian Medical Students and Gaza Teachers

Amid blockade, war and restricted mobility, Palestinian students and teachers have turned to generative AI tools largely on their own, without institutional programmes or training. Two independently conducted, peer-reviewed studies published in 2025-2026 quantify this grassroots adoption: a 550-student survey at Al-Quds University's Faculty of Medicine, and a 264-teacher mixed-methods survey (plus 15-teacher focus groups) in the Gaza Strip.

87% of Al-Quds medical students reported frequent AI use (50% daily), led by ChatGPT (76%), Copilot (38%) and virtual simulators (26%); students self-rated gains on 0-5 scales in time management (4.6), research productivity (4.5) and academic performance (4.2), with lower gains in clinical competence (3.6). Despite this, 91% had received no formal AI training and 51.05% flagged inadequate ethical oversight. Gaza teachers surveyed (264, plus 15 in follow-up focus groups) were broadly open to AI integration but voiced persistent concerns about trust, accessibility and effectiveness.

Both studies are self-reported, cross-sectional surveys with no control group and no independently measured learning outcomes; they document adoption patterns and attitudes under crisis conditions rather than the results of a deliberate, evaluated programme, and academic-integrity and equitable-access questions remain explicitly unresolved in both.