Generative AI without guardrails can harm learning: Evidence from high school mathematics

Generative AI is poised to revolutionize how humans work, and has already demonstrated promise in significantly improving human productivity. A key question is how generative AI affects learning-namely, how humans acquire new skills as they perform tasks. Learning is critical to long-term productivity, especially since generative AI is fallible and users must check its outputs. We study this question via a field experiment where we provide nearly a thousand high school math students with access to generative AI tutors. To understand the differential impact of tool design on learning, we deploy two generative AI tutors: one that mimics a standard ChatGPT interface ("GPT Base") and one with prompts designed to…