Ten Minutes With AI Can Weaken Your Grit for Hard Tasks
Using AI for Just 10 Minutes Erodes Your Ability to Persist at Hard Things
A UC Berkeley-led study found that just 10 minutes of AI assistance made people less persistent and accurate on difficult problems once the tool was removed. In randomized trials with 1,222 participants, those with ChatGPT solved more fractions initially but collapsed when it was taken away, while the no-AI group kept improving. The researchers warn that overreliance on AI erodes productive struggle and cognitive fitness.
We showed, ironically, that they are often helping us in ways that are kind of unhelpful.
- tarkin2
This also happened with the introduction of TV.
https://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comic/town-without-television...
And the IQs of those born after 1975 via the reverse Flynn Affect, those who had these devices of consumption and easy answers such as TV, and later Social Media, AI, etc has been decreasing.
I can only imagine a further and speedier decline will happen, and is happening.
- peteridah
This has not been true in my experience. The bar of what is possible has been moved dramatically. So my daily quest is not to continue to achieve our old objectives, but rethink worthy objectives for our new tools.
- imeanwhatdoikno
Wouldn't it have been more useful/conclusive if the study had another control group or two with non-AI based assistance (access to math books, access to calculator, access to human experts, etc)?
- Eddy_Viscosity2
This is just our energy conservation system in practice. It happens every time we experience and easier/better way of doing something. Another version of this headline could have been "Experiencing VIP treatment for just 10 minutes erodes your ability to tolerate the normal shit you have to put up with"
- justin_murray
This behavior is not very surprising to me, and I think the conclusion is a bit off. Here is an analogous study:
Participants are asked to drive 20 nails into a plank of wood. Group A is given a hammer and an unripe banana. Group B is given only a banana. Halfway through the experiment, the hammers are taken away.
Hammers erode your ability to persist at hard things…
My point being that AI is a new tool that allows us to work on harder things at a higher level. It’s like having a team of 100 skilled workers with nail guns (and all manner of other tools) that never tire, and you get to direct them. Once you experience that, it’s a bit disheartening to go back to building alone with your bare hands… even if you lament the decline in your hand-eye coordination.