Very significant, thanks for bringing this up, @rufuspollock — and I’ve also seen it from other directions, so, very much in the awareness of the aware, like you!
What I’ve also seen – not sure if it was the same study or connected – is that if you first try unaided, then consult AI, this gives better performance overall.
A bit like books, really, or other plagiarism. If you just copy stuff that you haven’t really thought through, of course you aren’t going to recall much of it. AI takes it to another level, where it is much more difficult for examiners or assessors to detect. Many years ago I saw it written that if you work out the questions you want to find answers to, before you read a book, you are more likely to learn from that book. Sadly I haven’t followed that advice well, but I would like to!
The opinion I am inclined to share is that it’s very much worth while working with AI intelligently, rather than leaving it out altogether. It isn’t, I suggest, the mere use of AI that causes cognitive debt, but rather using it in unintelligent ways.