Articles
One finding at a time, with its limits
Each article takes one study or one task. It starts with the answer, gives the numbers with their sample size, says whether the work is peer reviewed, and says what the study did not show. Every research figure comes from our table of 23 studies, last checked 13 November 2026.
Start here
Does AI lower your IQ?
No study has shown it. Where the claim comes from, and the one small study that tested it.
AI answers or AI hints?
A peer-reviewed trial with about 1,000 students: answers lowered exam scores, hints largely did not.
Make ChatGPT ask you questions instead of answering
The one line to add, the instruction to save, and what to expect.
Study mode, learning mode, Guided Learning
What each AI company's own tutor mode does now, where it is switched on, and the weakness they share.
What the research says
The MIT "Your Brain on ChatGPT" study
54 people, a preprint. What it found, what it did not, and the number that gets misquoted.
Ten minutes of AI help and what happened next
After 10 to 15 minutes of AI answers, 1,222 adults solved less alone and gave up more.
When AI tutors help
A designed AI tutor doubled learning gains at Harvard. Another trial found lower grades.
Better essays, no more learning
ChatGPT improved essay scores most, but students learned no more than the others.
Homework scores up, exam scores down
School records for 26,811 students over 30 months. Not an experiment.
How students actually use AI
A company report on 574,740 chats: nearly half were direct requests for answers.
AI and critical thinking surveys
Two surveys link AI reliance to lower critical thinking scores. A link is not a cause.
Does AI make developers slower or faster?
A 2025 trial found developers 19% slower but feeling faster. Newer data is unclear.
AI and creativity
AI ideas made single stories more creative, and everyone's stories more alike.
Do doctors lose skill when AI helps?
Unaided detection fell from 28.4% to 22.4% after AI arrived. Cause unproven.
AI and learning statistics
Seventeen numbers to quote, each with source, date, sample size and status.
Research words explained
Preprint, peer review, effect size and more, each with an example from a real AI study.
How to: study and school
Study for an exam with AI
Answer from memory, let the AI mark and quiz you, then sit a final paper with no AI.
Explain it back
Close the chat and write one line from memory. If you cannot, you found the gap.
Check an AI answer in two minutes
Guess first, confirm the one claim that matters, ask what would make it wrong.
A teacher says you used AI and you did not
Calm steps: ask for the evidence, gather your drafts, offer to talk it through.
Show your writing process
Notes, named versions, version history and a proof file: what each can and cannot show.
20 prompts that make AI coach you
Copy-ready prompts for study, writing, coding and work. Each starts from your attempt.
How to: writing, coding and work
Feedback instead of a written essay
Paste your draft with a no-rewrite note. The exact wording, and what to do when it drifts.
Get your writing voice back
A four-week plan: short daily writing with no AI, then AI as a reader only.
Learn to code with AI switched on
Plan in comments, ask why before how, type it yourself, predict, explain.
Stop asking AI before every email
A one-sentence point, a three-minute draft, and AI as a reader for the risky ones.
A try-first rule for teams
A rule you can agree in one meeting: own take first on skill work, with no monitoring.
A no-AI day, a no-AI hour or try-first
Three rules compared: what each asks, where each breaks, and which tends to last.
A daily limit you will keep
Count for three days, set a number just under it, and decide what happens at the limit.
How we check
We read the paper or its abstract record, not the news story about it. We give the number of people, say if it is a preprint, and keep a list of claims we will not make, such as "AI lowers IQ". Where we have only read a summary of a study, the article says so. If you find an error, write to support@decisionscalc.com and we will fix it and say so.