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📄 Research Article

Informal Learning Emerges in Everyday Human-LLM Interaction

● high · 2026-07-22llm, generative-ai, ai-literacy, over-reliance, student-experience, self-regulated-learning, metacognition

As LLMs take over task execution, a central worry is that everyday AI use becomes cognitive offloading that erodes people's own capability development. This study analyses 128,569 naturalistic human-LLM conversations, translating learning-science constructs into turn-level behavioural signatures to test whether informal learning actually emerges in routine use.

The authors find that users do engage in learning-supporting behaviours — cognitive engagement, self-explanation, and elaboration — within ordinary LLM interactions, tempering the pure offloading concern. The analysis contributes to debates on AI Literacy and the risks of Over Reliance, and reframes Student Experience as a site where incidental learning can occur. It also informs Self Regulated Learning and Metacognition research by quantifying how conversational patterns either preserve or displace opportunities to think.

Connected Concepts

  • LLM
  • AI Literacy
  • Over Reliance
  • Student Experience
  • Self Regulated Learning
  • Metacognition

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    • Citation

    Zixin Chen, Haotian Li, Ziang Xiao, Huamin Qu, et al. (2026). Informal Learning Emerges in Everyday Human-LLM Interaction. arXiv:2607.17643. arXiv:2607.17643 [cs.HC].