TL;DR
Students who use generative AI for homework finish faster and score higher on it, but lose about 20% on exams where the machine is not available.
A year ago the author wrote about an MIT study showing that using AI to write essays makes people feel they did good work when in truth they did not. Now there is no need for lab experiments — someone analysed how 26,811 Chinese students in grades 7 to 12 actually use these tools.
Homework got easier, and better looking
Before generative AI, these students spent 50 to 80 minutes on homework. With it, that sometimes fell to 25 minutes.
Half the time, and homework scores roughly 20% higher. A win-win on paper: the freed-up hours could go to video games.
Then the exam settles the bill
In an exam there is no AI, only what the student remembers and genuinely understands.
Students who used generative AI for homework saw exam scores fall by about 20% on average. They had outsourced the hard mental work to the machine. While the machine was within reach nothing looked wrong, and it even looked good; take it away and the outsourcing backfires.
Bottom line: homework can be outsourced, your brain cannot.
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