AI Assistance Reduces Persistence and Hurts Independent Performance (arxiv.org) AI

A paper on arXiv reports results from randomized trials (N=1,222) showing that brief AI help can reduce people’s persistence and impair how well they perform when working without assistance. Across tasks like math reasoning and reading comprehension, participants who used AI performed better in the short term but were more likely to give up and did worse afterward without the system. The authors argue that expecting immediate answers from AI may limit the experience of working through difficulty, suggesting AI design should emphasize long-term learning scaffolds, not just instant responses.