Coach not crutch: AI assistance can enhance rather than hinder skill development

Does using AI make you stupid? Contrary to predictions by lay forecasters, participants randomly assigned to practice writing with access to an AI tool improved more on a writing test one day later compared to writers assigned to practice without AI -- despite exerting less effort. Likewise, whereas forecasters predicted that AI would be less helpful, and less worth paying for, than personalized feedback from experienced human editors, we found the converse: practicing with AI increased skill more than feedback from human editors (or simply googling examples and tips). The results of a third experiment suggest that AI may teach by example: writers merely shown an AI-generated cover letter (without the opportunity to practice) performed as well as writers who practiced writing with the original AI tool. Collectively, the findings of these pre-registered studies constitute an existence proof that by providing personalized, high-quality examples, AI can improve, rather than undermine, learning.