Study Claims AI Assistance Reduces Persistence
alex_verem · x · 2026-07-16
A randomized controlled study by Oxford, Carnegie Mellon, and UCLA involving 1,222 participants found that those who received 10 minutes of AI help became unable to solve problems they previously could.
Key findings include:
- Problem-solving accuracy dropped from 73% to 57%, a relative decrease of about 22%.
- The "skip" rate doubled, indicating participants were more likely to give up on problems they could have solved.
- 61% of participants directly asked the AI for complete answers rather than hints or guidance; this group saw the steepest decline in performance.
The author summarizes this as "reduced persistence": as people grow accustomed to skipping the thinking process, their tolerance for tackling difficult challenges weakens.
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