Use AI for homework? Your exam scores might go down
What's the story
A new study has found that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education can improve homework scores but also negatively impact exam results by up to 24%. The research, conducted by scholars from Stockholm University and the University of Hong Kong, followed over 26,000 middle and high school students in central China for 30 months.
Impact assessment
Research methodology and AI tools used
The researchers observed a clear pattern: while AI improved short-term efficiency, it negatively affected long-term learning.
The study spanned from September 2022 to June 2025 and looked at homework grades, completion times, monthly test scores, and entrance-exam results.
About 80% of the students surveyed said they used generative AI tools like Doubao, DeepSeek, ChatGLM, Ernie Bot, and Qwen for their studies.
Productivity leap
Productivity boost short-lived
The study found that students who used AI tools saw an 18% increase in their homework scores and a reduction in completion time from 64 to 45 minutes.
However, this productivity boost was short-lived as within six months of using these tools, the same students' monthly exam scores dropped by a whopping 20%.
Exam performance
Negative implications for overall learning outcomes
The long-term effects of AI use were even more pronounced in high-stakes entrance exams.
After two years, students' scores in the Zhongkao High School entrance exam and the National Higher Education Entrance Examination (Gaokao) plummeted by 24% and 18%, respectively.
This shows that while AI tools may provide immediate benefits in terms of homework efficiency and scores, they could also have negative implications for students' overall learning outcomes over time.