Students using artificial intelligence to breeze through their homework are facing a quiet crisis of academic performance. While AI tools help complete assignments faster, new research shows this shortcut is eroding students' actual understanding of core subjects.
What Happened
According to a study of student behavior on the ALEKS online math platform, the arrival of ChatGPT in late 2022 triggered an immediate shift in how students approach homework. Researchers from the University of California, Irvine, and McGraw Hill analyzed millions of interactions with the platform, which is used by over four million students from fifth grade through college.
To isolate the impact of AI, researchers compared two types of math tasks: word problems, which can be copied and pasted into chatbots, and graphing problems, which are harder to outsource. After ChatGPT became widely available, high school students cut their time spent on word problems by 31 percent, while college students reduced their time by 27 percent. The time spent on complex graphing problems remained virtually unchanged.
While these shortcuts made students look successful on unmonitored homework, the illusion shattered during test time. Historically, students on the ALEKS platform answered 80 percent of word problems correctly on supervised, proctored placement exams. After ChatGPT’s introduction, that success rate declined to 60 percent on supervised placement exams.
The Bigger Picture
This decline is not an isolated math problem. A 30-month study of more than 26,000 secondary students published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) revealed a similar learning penalty. Students who outsourced their homework to generative AI raised their immediate homework grades by 18 percent and cut study time by 30 percent. However, their closed-book monthly exam scores fell by 20 percent within six months of adopting the technology.
When students bypass the cognitive struggle of solving problems, they engage in what educators call cognitive surrender. According to research published in BMC Psychology, using AI as a mental shortcut deprives students of mastery experiences, which is the satisfaction of working through a difficult concept. Without these experiences, students lose academic self-efficacy, which increases their vulnerability to anxiety and school burnout.
As a study highlighted by PsyPost explains, unrestricted AI use acts as a psychological crutch. Instead of learning how to think, students learn how to prompt, leaving them unprepared when they must perform independently in a test setting.
What This Means for Families
For parents, the challenge lies in distinguishing between tools that assist learning and those that replace it. Popular mobile applications like the Flexi AI Tutor feature "Snap and Solve" tools that allow students to upload photos of math problems and receive instant answers. While convenient, these features encourage passive copying.
As we previously reported, real cognitive development requires active physical and mental effort. If children rely on AI to generate answers, they bypass the neural pathways required to build memory and skill.
What You Can Do
- Prioritize step-by-step learning platforms: If your child uses an AI tool, opt for platforms designed to act as interactive tutors rather than answer generators. For example, the TYB homework helper app is designed to teach concepts step-by-step with no shortcuts.
- Establish tech-free practice zones: Ensure that a significant portion of weekly study time is done with pen, paper, and closed screens. This forces students to engage in productive struggle without the temptation of a quick copy-paste.
- Use parental gating tools: Consider setting up devices so that entertainment or distracting apps are locked behind a parent PIN until educational tasks are verified, a strategy supported by features in parenting apps like TYB's "Summer Ladder".
- Reframe mistakes as progress: Help your child understand that getting stuck on a problem is a necessary part of learning. Struggling to find an answer builds a stronger brain than copying a perfect response from a screen.