In a series of highly-powered empirical studies, we examine the intuition that by sparing effort, using AI inevitably hinders learning. First, in a nationally representative survey of young adults, the majority expressed the view that using AI makes people lazier and less capable. Next, in a random-assignment experiment, we gave participants a tutorial on best practices in professional writing, then provided one group with access to an AI writing tool and asked another to practice writing on their own. Those who practiced with AI indeed exerted less effort while practicing -- yet wrote better cover letters in no-AI writing tests. In a second experiment with more rigorous control conditions, access to AI improved writing more than either googling cover letter examples and tips or receiving personalized feedback on their practice letters from experienced human editors. A third experiment explained these learning gains by showing that AI can teach by example: participants who viewed a cover letter that had been revised by the AI tool but did no further practice improved their writing as much as those who practiced writing with the original AI tool. Collectively, these pre-registered experiments suggest that AI can exert opposing effects on effort and learning rate -- making it possible in at least some cases to work less and learn more.

翻译：通过一系列高统计效度的实证研究，我们检验了"AI通过节省努力必然阻碍学习"的直觉观点。首先，在一项针对青年群体的全国代表性调查中，多数受访者认为使用AI会使人更懒惰且能力下降。随后，在随机分配实验中，我们向参与者提供专业写作最佳实践的教程，其中一组获得AI写作工具的使用权限，另一组则被要求自主练习写作。使用AI进行练习的群体确实在练习过程中付出更少努力——但在无AI辅助的写作测试中却写出了更好的求职信。在第二个采用更严格对照条件的实验中，使用AI比通过谷歌搜索求职信范例与技巧，或获得经验丰富的人工编辑对练习信件提供的个性化反馈，更能提升写作水平。第三个实验通过证明AI能以范例教学的方式解释了这种学习收益：仅观看经AI工具修改的求职信范例而未进行额外练习的参与者，其写作提升程度与使用原始AI工具进行写作练习的群体相当。这些预先注册的实验共同表明，AI能对努力程度和学习效率产生相反方向的影响——至少在部分情境中，实现"减少努力而提升学习效果"成为可能。