Experimental impact of AI usage methods on the number of topics covered versus actual exam performance.

According to the study, students who used AI to substitute for their own work, such as asking for direct solutions to exercises, were able to move through more topics but showed weaker understanding of each topic. Students who used AI in a complementary way, such as asking for explanations, showed better understanding. The same research also found that unrestricted AI use may widen differences between students with higher and lower prior knowledge.

The spread of AI in student life has also contributed to wider debates about digital dependency and well-being. Prof. Haluk Birsen of Anadolu University Faculty of Communication Sciences has argued that excessive and unconscious digital content consumption can weaken students’ ability to distinguish between important and unimportant information. He links this pattern to broader concerns including loss of attention, social withdrawal and reduced self-confidence among young people.

Taken together, the available data suggests that AI is becoming a routine educational tool for many young users in Turkey, particularly in formal education. At the same time, survey findings show that university students hold mixed views about its wider social and economic consequences, while recent research suggests that learning outcomes may depend less on whether students use AI and more on how they use it. As universities continue to respond to the spread of generative AI, the central policy question is increasingly how these tools can support learning without replacing the mental effort that deeper understanding requires.