Can AI Help You Learn Faster or Does It Just Feel Faster?

Let’s be honest.

AI feels like a cheat code.

Sometimes it is.

Sometimes it’s just a really convincing illusion with perfect grammar and zero understanding behind it.

So let’s cut the crap (I’ll come back to this), and get into it.

Yes.

But in different ways than you might think.

It helps because it lets you spend more time doing the part that actually counts: thinking.

I’d break it into two buckets:

Makes learning more active: Turn boring textbook paragraphs into outlines, mini-quizzes, flashcards, examples, diagrams, whatever forces your brain to engage.
Answers questions at the exact moment you’re stuck: Learning hits harder when confusion gets cleared up immediately, not after you’ve half-forgotten why you were confused.
Explains things at your level: Lectures don’t adapt. Textbooks don’t adapt. AI can explain the same idea five different ways until one finally clicks.

Now that’s the “learning” side.

But for most students, the biggest win is that AI cuts out the most annoying part of studying: search friction.

You know the routine.

You Google something. Open 12 tabs.

One tab is a Wikipedia page that assumes you already have a PhD.

One is a 14-minute YouTube video where the answer is probably at 12:47.

One is a Reddit thread from 2016 where everyone argues and nobody explains.

And after all that? You still don’t understand it.

AI compresses that entire loop:

Compresses the feedback loop: Ask a friend, tutor, or forum and wait… or ask AI and keep moving.
Cuts the search friction: You don’t learn by hunting for explanations. You learn by working through the concept. AI gets you to that part faster.
Finds gaps fast: If you can’t explain it clearly to AI, or you keep re-reading its response, there’s the gap.
Removes low-value cognitive load: Formatting notes, summarising readings, re-ordering headings… offload the admin so your brain can do the actual learning.

Now for the honest bit.

Sometimes it’s real speed.

Sometimes it’s just you consuming information faster and mistaking that for learning.

Here’s how the illusion happens:

Fast info isn’t fast learning: Access speeds up, but understanding still takes time (and usually practice).
Clarity ≠ retention: A clean explanation can feel productive even if you can’t recall it or use it later.
Summaries can flatten depth: You move through more content, but don’t necessarily build usable understanding.
Smoothness can hide gaps: Fewer roadblocks can mask what you still can’t do independently.

Skipping struggle changes the outcome: If AI does the hard thinking, confidence rises before skill does.

AI can genuinely help you learn faster.

But only if you use it to do more learning, not just get more answers.

If AI makes everything feel smooth, check one thing: Can you do it without the training wheels?

Use AI to:

There you will find the biggest difference in your learning.

Stay autonomous out there.

– The Prompted Learner Newsletter