An AI-based learning assistant can significantly increase learning speed for distance education degree students.

Yesterday I read a paper preprint from Germany’s International University of Applied Sciences (Möller et al, 2024). They tracked the completion time of thousands of cross-disciplinary students, comparing the completion times of those who chose to use an AI-based learning assistant to those who didn’t. What they found was quite surprising.

First, they found that students who chose to use the AI assistant at least once were already completing their studies 24% faster than all other students. And 3 months after the AI become available, that gap increased to 70%. There was little change in the pass rates, but AI users saw a 3.4% decrease in their grades.

Assuming this work is validated during peer review, this provides evidence of a scalable and cost-effective way to support efficient personalized learning in higher Ed.