AI ban hurts students, structured training boosts performance
a two-year university study finds students who used ai in classrooms with structured training outperformed those without ai or with unguided ai suggestions, showing ai can improve learning outcomes.
thibault schrepel, a law professor at vrije universiteit amsterdam, conducted a two-year study with 66 students in 2024 and 164 in 2025. students were split into three groups: one banned from using ai, one with ai suggestions but no guidance, and one with structured training in legal prompt engineering. the no-ai group struggled with 'idea exhaustion' and made minor changes, while the trained group engaged in substantive discussions with ai. in 2024, the trained group outperformed the others, especially on take-home exams. by 2025, the performance gap had narrowed, but the no-ai group still finished last. schrepel's study challenges the assumption that ai harms learning and suggests that guided ai use can improve outcomes.