A new study has revealed the secret to students passing college without ever learning the content.
University of Illinois researchers revealed that students using ChatGPT could pass a college-level control systems course – earning a B overall – but without truly learning the material.
While AI excels at simple math problems, when earning A-level grades it struggles with higher-level, reasoning-based questions – scoring as low as a D.
The researchers found that a student relying solely on ChatGPT, without engaging in learning, might pass but miss out on critical thinking skills.
Despite being fast and often correct, ChatGPT showed limitations like hallucinations and misuse of technical terms.
Educators say this highlights the need to redesign courses to challenge students beyond what AI can handle.