Students don't really get what they read

The growing use of AI tools and social media platforms has significantly contributed to a sharp deterioration in the reading skills of high school students across the developed world, an influential OECD survey has concluded.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in its latest edition of the PISA survey of comparative education performance that today’s 15-year-olds are much worse than in previous years in evaluating information, thinking critically, and bringing together multiple pieces of evidence.

The decline is evident in science and mathematics, but it’s most pronounced in reading. Average reading scores fell by 28 points across OECD countries between 2015 and 2025, and that’s equivalent to about one and a half years of learning.

The OECD’s director for education and skills, Andreas Schleicher, said that students were increasingly “hasty” when engaging with texts, giving quick but often wrong responses. In other words, they skim read and don’t really get what they have just read.

Schleicher suspects technology, or rather, “passive technology consumption,” is at blame for lower scores.

He explained he meant distracting videos on Instagram and TikTok, endless scrolling, and, of course, the use of AI. The OECD found that 46% of students use AI chatbots weekly or more often to help them learn – perversely, the tech is actually doing more harm than good.

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Even though the PISA study doesn’t actually provide evidence of direct cause and effect, the data is pretty revealing: “Students who use AI for specific schoolwork tasks, such as summarising texts, drafting, or conducting research, attain lower scores than students who do not use AI.”

“Students who do not use AI outperform those who do, on average, by around 20 points – equivalent to being around one year of schooling ahead of their peers,” adds the report.

You don’t get fit by watching sport. If AI makes things easy, it’s not great for you in the long run. It gives you better results, but it doesn’t enhance learning. You have to make an effort. If learning is easy, it’s not learning,”

said the OECD’s director for education and skills Andreas Schleicher.

Reading ability is extremely important, the report further points out, as it’s a gateway to learning. Schleicher calls reading “the mother of all skills.”

Solutions? When it comes to the use of AI in the classroom or for homework, the OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann says, it should be used in a targeted way “for feedback and personalized practice.”

“Technology and AI can strengthen learning and help prepare young people for the future, but only when used purposefully and not as a substitute for attention, effort and understanding,” says Cormann.

And as far as general tech use is concerned, the OECD endorses already prevalent smartphone bans during school hours.

According to Schleicher, there is evidence that such bans help halt the deterioration in learning: “It’s the only thing that works. The only reduction of destruction was the cell-phone ban.”

The results of the survey might also be viewed as bad news for AI companies that keep baselessly promising that their tools will raise productivity levels. That’s because these levels are already dropping among future workers.