Does AI Help Students’ Cognitive Ability?

By Koumi

When you study, what is your favorite tool to help you study? Recently, many students use AI. According to the 2025 poll by Copyleaks, 90% of students have used AI academically and report that their AI use has increased compared to that last year. It is fair to say that AI use is now the norm of college students

The results of the poll stuck me, because the number one motivation for AI use is saving time. I have experienced solving questions with help of AI. AI can give instant feedback. But I am worried the cognitive ability of students will deteriorate if they depend too much on AI and stopped thinking independently by themselves. The answers given by AI are not always correct. Every time I receive answers from AI and I wonder, “Why did it produce this answer?” It takes a lot of time to review the answer given by AI, but I need time to understand issues and develop my own solving skills. I believe students should learn how to effectively use AI to develop their cognitive ability.

When I saw that second most common opinion, that is motivation for using AI is improve quality, I was not surprised. AI is really a convenient tool to check and correct mistakes. AI helps students correct typographical errors and grammar mistakes. I agree that students can learn new skills by using AI.

Perhaps a fair way to summarize my reaction to AI in education is that I was not surprised so much by the motivation for improving quality, but that saving time aspect is not a good one. Students shouldn’t ask everything to AI. They should think with their own brains while using AI. The time that students seriously consider ideas is not waste at all.

References

Copyleaks. (2025, September 18). AI in action: How Students are normalizing AI in the classroom. 2025 AI in Education Trends Report. https://copyleaks.com/blog/ai-in-action-2025-student-ai-usage-report