Everyone in my class uses AI and I am falling behind
You are behind on homework speed, and that is not the same as being behind on learning. Do not copy their method and do not refuse AI either. Try for five minutes, then use the AI as a coach on your attempt. Measure yourself on what you can do with the book closed, because that is what the exam measures.
What is going on
They finish in twenty minutes. You take an hour. Their homework marks may even be higher than yours. It is fair to feel that the honest route is the slow one, and that slow is losing.
Homework marks and exam marks can move in opposite directions. In a field trial with about 1,000 high school maths students (Bastani and others, PNAS, 2025, peer reviewed), students who practised with a plain AI chatbot did much better in practice, then scored 17% lower on the exam than students who never had it. Students given a version that offered hints, not answers, largely avoided that drop. It was one country and one subject, so it is not a law. It does say the fast route has a bill that arrives later.
What to do this week
Keep the five-minute attempt
Before any AI, write your guess, your first line, or the exact place you got stuck. Five minutes, with a timer.
Then use AI, as a coach
Give it your attempt and add: "Don't give me the answer. Guide me with questions, one at a time." You get help at their speed without skipping the part that sticks.
Change your scoreboard
Once a week, do three questions with everything closed. Write the score down. That number, not tonight's homework time, tells you whether you are behind.
Ask your teacher what is allowed
One question: "Can we use AI for hints on our own attempt?" Then you know the rules, and you are not guessing what the others are getting away with.
Use ChatGPT or Gemini for this. ChatGPT is for 13 and up, with a parent's permission if you are under 18.
What not to do
- Do not paste the question in "just this once" every night. That is the method, not an exception.
- Do not refuse AI on principle and fall behind for real. A coach that questions you is a fair tool where your school allows it.
- Do not report or lecture your classmates. Their choices are theirs. You only have to manage yours.
The honest limit
If your course is graded mostly on take-home work, the students who paste may get better marks than you this term. We cannot fix that, and it is unfair. What you get in return is being able to do the work yourself when it counts.
Questions
Is using AI as a coach still cheating?
That depends on your school's rules, so ask. Getting hints on your own attempt is close to asking a tutor. Your teacher decides what is allowed in their class.
My friends get better marks with AI. Why should I bother?
Because the exam is you without it. Their homework marks tell you nothing about their exam, and yours tell you little about yours. The closed-book score does.
What if I run out of time tonight?
Get the help you need tonight. Then close the chat and write two sentences from memory on what you learned. That keeps some of the benefit.