HR Lessons from Education and AI Study

In this week's episode, Nick and Geoff discuss a recent study that finds AI dramatically improves students' homework scores and speed but meaningfully hurts exam performance, creating strong lessons for how employers think about talent development. They also examine new research which links the four-day work week directly to lower obesity rates and discuss what employers who cannot yet make that shift can do to capture similar benefits.

 Key Takeaways

• A study of tens of thousands of students found that AI users saw homework scores improve by 18% but exam scores decline by 20%, signaling that AI is helping students complete work without actually learning the underlying material
• Findings from the study translates directly to talent development risks in the workplace
• Zynga founder, Mark Pincus, recently spoke on the issue's core risk: AI can get you to a B+, but it will not get you to an A—and if you have never done the foundational work, you cannot even recognize what an A looks like
• According to the Financial Times, an investment bank made fewer return offers to its 2025 intern class after senior financiers found that interns' initially impressive work seemed shallow once probed further
• Research across 33 OECD countries found a 1% reduction in annual working hours correlates with a 0.16% decrease in obesity rates
• A four-day work week represents roughly a 20% reduction in hours, suggesting meaningful population-level health effects
• Employers who cannot implement a four-day work week can pursue similar benefits by stacking smaller interventions: stress management programs, healthy food access, structured breaks, and flexible scheduling all address the same underlying mechanisms without changing the work arrangement itself