AI Tutoring Outperforms Active Learning

Abstract

Advances in generative artificial intelligence (GAI) show great potential for improving education. Yet little is known abouthow this new technology should be used and how effective it can be. Here we report a randomized, controlled studymeasuring college students’ learning and their perceptions when content is presented through an AI-powered tutorcompared with an active learning class. The AI tutor was developed with the same pedagogical best practices as thelectures. We fi nd that students learn more than twice as much in less time when using an AI tutor, compared with the activelearning class. They also feel more engaged and more motivated. These fi ndings offer empirical evidence for the effi cacy ofa widely accessible AI-powered pedagogy in signifi cantly enhancing learning outcomes, presenting a compelling case for itsbroad adoption in learning environments.