AI boosts homework grades but lowers exam scores

The study “The Penalty of Learning from Generative AI: Evidence from Chinese Secondary Education” shows that AI aids students in getting higher classwork scores and finishing tasks more quickly.
Using 30 months of data on 26,811 Chinese students, researchers analyzed the impact of generative AI on productivity and learning in nine subjects.
AI use led to an 18% boost in task grades and a 30% reduction in completion times, but a 20% decline in monthly exam scores emerged after six months.
After two years, entrance exam scores fell between 18% and 24%, with social sciences, STEM, and languages most affected, and first-year students, high-performers, and males the most impacted.
Approximately 80% of AI users who utilized it to expedite task completion experienced learning losses, while those who used it similarly to non-users had smaller declines.