Yes, I'm using "high-performing college students" or "phd students" or whatever as a proxy for "people skilled at learning". It's not perfect but I think it'd be good enough. You could do lots of refinements on the idea. You could try to do some kind of "pre-test" that more directly tested "meta-learning skills".

My only point was I think it's possible to do. I personally think it's pretty clear. And there's nothing special about AI. In rural places, you could replace it with "access to books" or "access to a good tutor" and so on.

I also think you'd see the same effect with "motivation" (if you could test it), with performance on standardized tests, and with grades. AI will boost the better (by these metrics) students more.