"ChatGPT and other AI chatbots are replacing the search engine. Instead of letting you suffer the laborious task of looking up sources of information, these powerful large language models will simply concoct an answer for you, with the minor risk that it might be totally made up. It turns out there's another hazard: while getting your answers this way may be quick, it isn't great for actually learning, according to a new study published in the journal PNAS Nexus."
"The findings are based on an analysis of seven studies with more than 10,000 participants. At the end, the participants were asked to write advice to a friend about what they learned. A clear pattern emerged. The participants who used AI to do their research wrote shorter advice, with generic tips and less factual information, while the people who used a Google search produced more detailed and thoughtful tips."
""When people rely on large language models to summarize information on a topic for them, they tend to develop shallower knowledge about it compared to learning through a standard Google search," study co-lead author Shiri Melumad, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in an essay for The Conversation about her work."
Analysis of seven experiments with more than 10,000 participants compared learning via AI chatbots to learning via standard search engines. Participants assigned to AI chatbots tended to produce shorter advice containing generic tips and fewer factual details, while participants using search engines produced more detailed, thoughtful guidance. The pattern persisted even when both groups were shown the same facts or when tools were held constant. Learning from synthesized LLM responses led to shallower knowledge compared with gathering, interpreting, and synthesizing information through standard web links. Long-term effects of widespread AI use on learning remain uncertain.
Read at Futurism
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