Is AI - combined with more smartphone use, social media, pandemic and other disruptions - reducing our ability to learn?

From page 13 "The threat of cognitive offloading is particularly acute amid already declining learning outcomes. Even before the introduction of mass commercial AI tools (2022) the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data showed substantial declines in student performance in mathematics, reading and science since the early 2010s (Figure

5). 

Adults are not immune: the OECD’s 2024 Survey of Adult Skills found literacy declining in 11 countries and falling among tertiary-educated adults in thirteen. These trends reflect a complex interplay of factors, including increased smartphone use, social media, pandemic and other disruptions. 

Against this backdrop, AI may exacerbate existing weaknesses by reducing opportunities for active cognitive engagement rather than being the primary cause of these declines."

Source: WEF "Shaping the Future of Learning: Education Readiness for the Age of AI" page 13