How to Use AI Without Cheating Yourself Out of Real Learning (Prompts Included)

Backed by 7 cognitive science principles, this guide shows when AI supercharges your brain and when it sabotages it.

Credits: PokRie

Welcome to issue #180 of the Lifelong Learning Club. Each week, I send two articles to help you learn smarter and turn "one day..." into Day One. For the full suite of science-backed strategies, expert AI prompts, direct support, and a global community designed for consistent action, consider becoming a paid member.

At sixteen, I was an academic disaster. I sacrificed my school days for time with my boyfriend, and any homework I got done was thanks to my then-best friend, who let me copy her assignments with only the occasional sigh.

I remember this one English letter assignment – I copied it so meticulously, so blindly, that I even signed her name – Anna! – at the bottom instead of my own. My English teacher was as much stunned as I was when I managed to pass the oral exam (credit probably goes more to singing along to Avril Lavigne and Linkin Park than anything else).

I passed. But somehow I hadn’t earned it.

Fast forward to now, and the temptation to shortcut learning is just as strong as copying Anna’s homework. Only this time, it’s powered by AI.

After a year of experimenting with ChatGPT and friends, taking prompt engineering courses, and even training an AI to run a full learning program, I kept asking myself:

When does AI make you smarter, and when is it a sophisticated way to cheat (without learning)?

If you’ve ever had that slightly hollow feeling after using AI to "ace" something in five minutes, only for it to vanish from your brain by the next morning, you are not alone.

This piece isn’t another list of clever prompts. It’s a research-backed guide to real learning with AI: when it works, when it doesn’t, and how to tell the difference. Based on seven principles from the science of learning, you’ll get clear prompts to:

• Stop ChatGPT from being your lazy homework-copier and turn it into a slightly challenging (but ultimately helpful) Socratic tutor.

• Use AI to actually remember things, not just look them up repeatedly.

• Spot when AI is helping you learn, and when it's just helping you pretend.

Because the goal isn’t just “using AI.” It’s learning how to learn with it.

---

1. Long-term memory fuels comprehension

Think of your brain like a LEGO set. The more bricks (organized knowledge) you already have in your long-term memory, the easier it is to build impressive new structures (understand new things).

❌ AI Sabotages Learning When

You let AI do all the thinking, dumping information on you without connecting it to what you already know. This creates flimsy knowledge that collapses under pressure.

✅ AI Supercharges Learning When...

You use AI to bridge the gap between new concepts and your existing knowledge base, making new information "stick" by linking it to familiar mental landmarks.

💡 Example Prompt to Forge Connections