OECD finds daily AI use tied to lower scores in PISA 2025

Students who avoid AI chatbots for schoolwork are outperforming those who rely on them daily, according to the OECD's PISA 2025 report released Tuesday, offering some of the broadest evidence yet that the technology may be undermining children's learning.moneycontrol+1

The findings come as part of the Program for International Student Assessment, which tested a representative sample of more than 760,000 fifteen-year-olds across 91 countries — the first PISA cycle conducted since generative AI went mainstream.dw

The AI Gap

Students who said they never or almost never used AI to draft texts for writing assignments scored 509 on a science test, compared with 481 for those using AI for that purpose every day or almost every day. The 28-point gap, adjusted for socioeconomic status, corresponds to roughly a year and a half of teaching. Similar patterns emerged for other AI uses, including conducting preliminary research and summarizing assigned reading.bloomberg+1

Only 14% of students reported never using AI for schoolwork, though adoption varied widely — nearly 40% in Japan said they never used it, compared with just 4% in Vietnam. The OECD's report compared countries' unchecked rollout of AI in classrooms to "administering an untested vaccine to children," urging governments to establish clear guidelines.moneycontrol+1

Moderate Use Shows Promise

The picture is not entirely bleak. Students who used AI about once or twice a week tended to outperform both those who used it less often and those who used it daily. Among pupils who reported using AI "to help me learn," weekly users outperformed all peers, including those who never used it. And among daily users, science scores were 13 points higher — equivalent to more than half a year of teaching — when students were regularly asked to assess AI-generated information in their lessons.moneycontrol

"In the same way that we do not become fit by watching sports but by doing sports, learning does not occur through the consumption of content, but as a productive cognitive struggle of the mind with new material," wrote OECD Director for Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher, calling AI a "scaffold, not a crutch".bbc+1

A Broader Decline

The AI findings arrived alongside a wider drop in global student performance. Reading scores fell by 28 points across OECD countries between 2015 and 2025, while math scores declined by 22 points. The report attributed the declines to "deeper structural issues within education systems," including digital distractions and declining interest in reading books. Last week, New York City banned AI tools for elementary and middle school students in the upcoming school year.dw+1