this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2026
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‘equivalent to being around one year of schooling ahead of their peers’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcRY6M5_mvo&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA
https://pivottoai.libsyn.com/20260908-students-who-dont-use-ai-are-ahead-on-every-measure - podcast

time: 4 min 14 sec

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[–] jaschop@awful.systems 6 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

I expect we're gonna hear more about the cherry-picked data points that aren't atrocious for AI. Like specifically the "help me learn" usage stat (the only one where some AI users are on par or better), and the even more specific "help me learn" usage with AI/media literacy discussed in class stat.

There's probably all kinds of interesting factors involved that had to be ignored because they needed an AI fluff statistic. Like the one fact they mention, that high AI-use and partly non-AI use correllate with curiousity. Kids who want information will use the tools given to them, and those are often LLMs. If your teachers are into AI and discuss it in class, even more so. I expect the "once or twice a year"-users (who bottom out every chart) to include a big bulk of kids that just do not care about education (often coming from unpriviliged households), so they use it to cheat on their assignments and call it a day.

Pretty undeniable though, that the daily users are always worse than the sometimes users. That's probably the habitual delegation of thought kicking in. I could accept that a subgroup of the AI users learns on par or sliiiightly better than non-users on average, but they might be building up a reliance on tooling that will serve them worse and worse once they get past well-trodden school problems. In the same vein they're probably all getting fucked, because noone gives a fuck about good text books & reference materials anymore.

[–] dgerard@awful.systems 0 points 3 hours ago

they tried so hard to fluff the AI

[–] self@awful.systems 9 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

maybe this is the wrong thread to not read the article and just sit there and goon about how the thing with empirically bad outcomes is “just a tool”

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

There should be an internet-wide bot that replies to every “just a tool” defence with “you’re just a tool”

[–] dgerard@awful.systems 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)
[–] swlabr@awful.systems 2 points 2 hours ago

You wound me, Gerard

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 50 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Now for the big question:

Did AI make these students stupid, or is it just selection bias because the stupid students are more likely to use AI?

[–] 18107@aussie.zone 35 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I suspect it's a bit of both.

We have plenty of evidence that states that practice is an excellent learning tool. We also know that AI removes the need for practising thinking by providing immediate answers for everything.

We also have evidence of students making the poor decision to cheat instead of learning, so it's logical to assume the same type of student would turn to AI.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 8 points 10 hours ago

They can skip doing their homework without the immediate consequences of skipping their homework.

[–] jtrek@startrek.website 2 points 9 hours ago

I also think it's both.

The ones who were already stupid are more likely to use AI, because that's a stupid decision.

But some students were probably fine, but using the AI atrophied their thinking skills.

[–] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 28 points 14 hours ago

Thats cool as shit, I didn't expect the results to be so obvious for a few more years.

[–] nonentity@sh.itjust.works 13 points 14 hours ago (3 children)

‘AI’, as Artificial Intelligence, is yet to be demonstrated, and the opinion of anyone convinced it has needs to be summarily dismissed, and if they persist, ridiculed.

LLMs are a chipper and solvent of competency and credibility, which is a problem when used by someone attempting to build and develop them.