Students regularly use AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools like ChatGPT for their coursework. However, this raises the question: how well do students learn when using AI? This question has been investigated. And,, the results are not as encouraging as one would hope.
A Wall Street Journal article on June 30, 2025 titled “AI Makes Learning Easy. Maybe Too Easy”. reported that students using AI perform much better when writing papers. than those who did not use AI. However, the article also said that students using AI perform more poorly when taking tests.
As I see it, this is not surprising. Today’s AI is capable (though not perfect) at searching for relevant information, presenting it in written form, or producing videos. So, when students use AI, they are likely to prepare better written reports. AI can sift through extensive information much faster than human students can. So long as AI doesn’t hallucinate, AI can do better than humans at finding more of the relevant information that is out there. Furthermore, AI can do a pretty good job of packaging that information into a concise written report. So, AI does improve the reports that students produce.
But, when students use AI, they perform worse when taking tests on the material. Again, this is not surprising. After AI searches for relevant information, students get findings that AI summarizes. So, students are often merely reading summaries, not doing in-depth investigation into the topic. Someone reading a summary of the topic generally will not understand the material as well as someone who has studied the material more extensively.
Digging deeply into a topic, conducting numerus searches, and thinking about how all this material fits together provides the opportunity to develop a solid understanding of the subject matter. This depth of understanding is not likely to occur with quick readings of summaries. So, students end up with only summary knowledge and, thus do not get the in-depth expertise that might be required to answer some of the more sophisticated questions on tests.. Consequently, students who use AI are likely to do more poorly on tests
The Wall Street Journal article reported it like this: “Students who use AI tools to complete assignments tend to do better on homework–but worse on tests.”
So, in conclusion, it is not surprising that students who use AI produce better reports, but do more poorly on tests. That’s what happens when the deep investigation of the material is delegated and the student spends time merely reading brief summaries of the information.
