"Macro Buddy was designed to act like a tutor, not an answer machine. Instead of giving students complete solutions, Macro Buddy asked follow-up questions meant to guide students toward an answer. For example, if a student asked why lower prices might increase consumers' spending, Macro Buddy would not offer a quick, full explanation. It might instead ask what happens to people's purchasing power when prices fall."
"We trained Macro Buddy with the help of lecture transcripts, slides and homework questions specifically from this macroeconomics course. Macro Buddy had internet access turned off, so it relied only on the instructor's course materials. Students' course materials, assignments and exams were identical across all four sections."
A macroeconomics course with 140 undergraduate students tested four different study formats after the first exam: individual study without AI, group study without AI, individual study with an AI tutor called Macro Buddy, and group study with Macro Buddy. Macro Buddy was trained on course-specific materials and designed to guide students through Socratic questioning rather than providing direct answers. The AI tool had no internet access and relied exclusively on instructor materials. Exam scores reflected independent student understanding without external resources. The study compared how these different approaches affected student performance on subsequent exams.
Read at Fortune
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