Study finds AI use may lower perseverance

A study involving 1,222 participants suggests that using AI for more than 10 minutes may reduce the ability to persevere in the face of a problem. The research was presented at the Conference on Language Modeling (COLM) in San Francisco and was conducted by researchers including Grace Liu of Carnegie Mellon University and Brian Christian of the University of Oxford, author of The Alignment Problem.

Experiment shows AI users performed worse

In the first experiment, 354 participants were asked to solve 15 increasingly difficult fraction calculations within 15 minutes. Half of the group could use an AI assistant based on GPT-5, presented as ChatGPT, while the other half could not. When the AI assistant was removed without warning, the group that had used the AI performed worse (57% correct answers compared to 73% for the control group) and skipped questions more frequently (20% compared to 11%).

Second test confirms performance decline

For the second experiment, 667 participants underwent a similar test with three preliminary trials to ensure no initial skill differences. After excluding 82 participants who failed the preliminary tests or an attention check, the results showed a smaller but still noticeable decline in performance for the AI-assisted group (71% correct answers compared to 77% for the control group). The increase in question skipping was not statistically significant.

AI use also affected reading comprehension

A third experiment with 201 participants used reading comprehension exercises from SAT past papers. Participants who used an AI assistant saw their correct answer rate drop (76% compared to 89% for the control group) and skipped questions more often (8% compared to 1%). The control group maintained a stable performance level.

Researchers caution about long-term effects

The study authors suggest that AI systems "can solve everything, rarely refuse to help, and give instant answers," potentially leading to a greater reduction in perseverance and reflection compared to tools like the internet or GPS. However, the study's effects were based on short sessions and online participants paid a small amount, without real-world stakes. The long-term effects of regular AI use have not been measured, and the authors call for further research under real conditions.