Flutterby™! : LLM users learn less

AI Makes Research Easy. Maybe Too Easy.

Daniel Oppenheimer, a professor of psychology and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, says the research is resonant of what he sees in similar studies he does in his lab: Students who use AI tools to complete assignments tend to do better on homework—but worse on tests. “They’re getting the right answers, but they’re not learning,” he says.

The Wharton School Research Paper: Experimental Evidence of the Effects of Large Language Models versus Web Search on Depth of Learning Shiri Melumad, Jin Ho Yun

In turn, when subsequently forming advice on the topic based on what they learned, those who learned from LLM syntheses (vs. standard search results) feel less invested in forming their advice and, more importantly, create advice that is sparser, less original—and ultimately less likely to be adopted by recipients. Implications of the findings for recent research on the benefits and risks of LLMs are discussed.

Via /.