The problem
What needs solving
Show how students can use AI for schoolwork every day for a school year and still learn as much as those who don’t. Both are tested without AI, and students who start behind must not fall further back.
Why it matters
In 2026, 94% of the 1,054 full-time UK undergraduates HEPI surveyed said they use AI to support assessed work. Trials point both ways. In a Turkish school, pupils who practised maths with a plain chatbot did 17% worse on a closed-book test than pupils without one. A version that gave hints instead of answers did about as well as no chatbot (PNAS, 2025). We found no trial that gave students AI for their schoolwork for a whole school year and then tested them without AI weeks later.
What counts as progress
(a) An independent trial, planned in advance, assigns 2,000 or more students at random to daily AI use or none for a school year. The AI group does no worse on AI-free tests, including one eight weeks later. (b) In such a trial, a written rule for how students use AI beats unrestricted use on AI-free tests, and the gain is no smaller for first-generation or low-income students. (c) Solved when independent teams in two education systems meet (a) and (b), with the rule written clearly enough for any school to copy.
Stater & version history
Stated by UNSOLVED editors
18 Oct 2026 — Stated by the UNSOLVED editors for the founding registry, from the research of October 2026.