Digital Inequality in the Age of Generative AI: How Internet Reliability and AI Access Shape Students’ Academic Opportunities

Abstract

Using a quantitative comparative design, this study examines how digital inequality affects the academic opportunities available to university students amid the rise of generative artificial intelligence. Data came from a cross-sectional survey of around 250 university students from Punjab, Pakistan, representing both urban areas and underserved or rural communities. The study assessed digital inequality across five dimensions: reliability of the internet, access to devices, internet affordability, power cuts and electrical disruptions, and whether students had access to paid or advanced AI tools. How often, in what variety, and for which academic tasks students used generative AI defined AI utilization; academic opportunity was measured by access to learning materials, research openings, academic support, and how much educational advantage students felt they had. To examine differences across groups and what predicted academic opportunity, the analysis drew on descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-tests, correlations, and multiple regression, alongside an interaction test to see if internet reliability altered the link between AI access and academic opportunity. Compared to peers in underserved areas, urban students had significantly more reliable internet, better device availability, and greater access to AI tools, showing moderate-to-large effect sizes. In the regression model, internet reliability, AI access, and how frequently students used AI all proved to be significant predictors of academic opportunity; moreover, a significant interaction showed that access to AI yielded considerably stronger academic advantages for students who had reliable internet than for those who did not. These results suggest that generative AI may not act as a leveler across the board; instead, it risks entrenching and widening the infrastructural and digital gaps that already divide urban and underserved students in Pakistan.