MIT Study: Using AI Bots Like ChatGPT Rots Your Brain

A recent study conducted by researchers at MIT’s Media Lab has found that using ChatGPT over an extended period can lead to a decline in cognitive function, particularly in critical thinking skills.

The Hill reports that researchers at the MIT Media Lab have discovered a potential link between the use of AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and cognitive decline. The findings suggest that prolonged use of the large language model (LLM) could negatively impact an individual’s critical thinking abilities, especially in younger users.

The study, led by Nataliya Kosmyna, involved dividing subjects into three groups: those using ChatGPT, those using Google’s search engine, and a “brain-only” group that relied solely on their own knowledge. Each participant’s brain activity was monitored using electroencephalography (EEG) while they wrote several SAT essays.

The results were shocking. Subjects who used ChatGPT over a few months consistently demonstrated the lowest brain engagement and underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. Initially, the ChatGPT group utilized the LLM to ask structural questions for their essays, but by the end of the study, they were more likely to simply copy and paste the generated content.

In contrast, the Google search engine group showed moderate brain engagement, while the “brain-only” group exhibited the strongest and most wide-ranging neural networks. These findings suggest that relying on LLMs like ChatGPT can have detrimental effects on a user’s cognitive function over time.

Kosmyna expressed concern about the potential implications of these findings, particularly for younger users with developing brains. “What really motivated me to put it out now before waiting for a full peer review is that I am afraid in 6-8 months, there will be some policymaker who decides, ‘let’s do GPT kindergarten.’ I think that would be absolutely bad and detrimental,” she told TIME.