PISA sees lower reading scores alongside AI use and digital distraction

The latest PISA assessment—an international test of what 15-year-olds can do with reading, math and science—found reading and math performance across OECD systems at their lowest recorded levels. It covered 760,000 students in 91 education systems, and students on average read at a level previously expected of pupils a year younger. The report links weaker performance with more screen time, less reading for pleasure and classroom distraction; frequent use of AI chatbots for tasks such as summarizing, research or essay writing was also associated with lower science scores. These are correlations, not proof that phones or AI caused the decline, but the warning is that tools meant to help learning can work against it when they replace sustained reading, independent thinking and attention.