Denial of LLM access increases attrition and LLMs are the most preferred study resource, acting as revealed preference¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Baseline-condition participants withdrew before the post-intervention exam at more than twice the rate of LLM-condition participants. → Bharat Anand 2026 q3 i? A majority of participants preferred LLMs over lectures, YouTube tutorials, and textbooks as a learning resource. → Bharat Anand 2026 (2)

Evidence¶

Bharat Anand 2026¶

Bharat Anand, Lihi Idan. (2026). Generative AI and the Productivity Divide: Human–AI Complementarities in Education and Knowledge Work (Working Paper). https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.18143 doi:10.48550/arxiv.2605.18143

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Attrition analysis in the randomized experiment: the authors interpret dropout as revealed preference, noting participants most commonly cited illness or scheduling conflicts but the imbalance suggests the absence of LLM access undermined motivation to persist.

"20 participants in the baseline group withdrew before the post-intervention exam, compared to only 9 in the LLM group. A chi-square test showed that assignment to the baseline condition was a strong predictor of attrition (p<0.01)."

Bharat Anand 2026 (2)¶

Bharat Anand, Lihi Idan. (2026). Generative AI and the Productivity Divide: Human–AI Complementarities in Education and Knowledge Work (Working Paper). https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.18143

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Self-reported resource preferences collected in the same experiment; LLMs were the most-selected resource at "69% of participants selected LLMs". The authors note preferences and attrition reinforce each other.

"When asked which resources they preferred for learning, 69% of participants selected LLMs, surpassing lectures (64%), YouTube tutorials (67%), and textbooks (40%)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• LLM-assisted self-study yields higher post-intervention exam performance than traditional resources among early-career knowledge workers — related
• Preference for LLMs aligns only weakly with AI Interaction Competence, producing enthusiastic-but-unskilled and skilled-but-reluctant subgroups — related
• AI Interaction Competence, not GPA or prior knowledge, is the decisive moderator of LLM-assisted learning gains — related