CITATION — REFERENCE ENTRY
Generative AI without guardrails can harm learning: Evidence from high school mathematics — Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Key
- bastani-2025-generative-ai-guardrails
- Authors
- Bastani, Hamsa; Bastani, Osbert; Sungu, Alp; Ge, Haosen; Kabakcı, Özge; Mariman, Rei
- Issued
- 2025-6-25
- Type
- article-journal
- Container
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Volume
- 122
- Issue
- 26
- Pages
- e2422633122
Raw CSL JSON
{
"DOI": "10.1073/pnas.2422633122",
"URL": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2422633122",
"page": "e2422633122",
"type": "article-journal",
"issue": "26",
"title": "Generative AI without guardrails can harm learning: Evidence from high school mathematics",
"author": [
{
"given": "Hamsa",
"family": "Bastani"
},
{
"given": "Osbert",
"family": "Bastani"
},
{
"given": "Alp",
"family": "Sungu"
},
{
"given": "Haosen",
"family": "Ge"
},
{
"given": "Özge",
"family": "Kabakcı"
},
{
"given": "Rei",
"family": "Mariman"
}
],
"issued": {
"date-parts": [
[
2025,
6,
25
]
]
},
"volume": "122",
"container-title": "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences"
}
Claims
-
Students with unguarded GPT-4 access used it as a crutch during practice, often asking directly for answers, and then performed worse on their own.
"Without guardrails, students attempt to use GPT-4 as a “crutch” during practice problem sessions, and subsequently perform worse on their own."
-
In a randomized trial with nearly 1,000 Turkish high school students, access to an unrestricted GPT-4 interface improved practice scores by 48% but reduced scores on a later unassisted exam by 17%; a tutor version with guardrails improved practice scores by 127% and largely eliminated the harm, without producing a positive effect.
"students in the GPT Base arm perform statistically significantly worse than students in the control arm by 17%; this negative effect is essentially eradicated in the GPT Tutor arm, though we still do not observe a positive effect."
-
Students who copied solutions from GPT-4 did not perceive any reduction in their learning or performance.
"students do not perceive any reduction in their learning or subsequent performance as a consequence of copying solutions"
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