70% of teens admit to using AI for schoolwork as test scores plunge: It slowed my thinking down

AI is killing their A+.More than three fourths of teens use AI to do their schoolwork — but it’s causing test scores to plunge as they rely on the tech “to think,” according to a new survey.Meanwhile, Google is pushing to increase the use of its Gemini AI on school-issued Chromebook computers — which have become nearly universal in American classrooms.A total of 70% of teens ages 13 to 17 said they use AI for homework and assignments in class — with 63% admitting they take the shortcut simply “to get answers,” according to a survey by Common Sense Media’s Youth AI Safety Institute.Far fewer students, just 35%, said they use AI to “fix or improve” an answer they already know, according to the report.“It slowed my thinking down,” Richard Scott, a 15-year-old  from Pennsylvania, told The Wall Street Journal.“When I was in a test and I couldn’t use AI, it was hard to think.”Scott said his algebra test scores dropped dramatically after he started relying on an AI search tool on his school-issued laptop to spit out answers while doing daily schoolwork.Though he got mostly B’s throughout the year, he failed his final, according to the paper.The AI finding comes as Google’s ChromeOS, which features an AI tool, rolls out in classrooms globally— with 93% of schools reportedly planning to buy Chromebook laptops this year.Global and national test scores have meanwhile taken a historic nosedive in everything from math to reading comprehension, according to data released earlier this year. Other teens said Google Chromebooks’ roll-out of AI software made them academically and emotionally dependent on the technology, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing more than 60 teachers, school officials, parents, and children interviewed.Kaitlyn Ruano, an Advanced Placement  Art History teacher in Miami, Florida, said even top students’ test scores plunged after her school district made Google’s Gemini chatbot available to all high-sch...