Ever since ChatGPT came into widespread use almost three years ago, the long-term outcome of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on learning has been a hot topic.
Are these “tools” useful for education or a tempting open door to academic dishonesty?
I’ve been very concerned that using AI will lead to a “dumbing down” of our nation’s heritage – our children. If students use AI tools too early, many believe they may not develop basic skills for critical thinking and problem-solving. In reality, this info applies to all of us who want to keep our brains sharp.
Trying to understand how the use of LLM chatbots affects the brain, a team led by MIT Media Lab research scientist Dr. Nataliya Kosmyna hooked up a group of Boston-area college students into 3 different groups to electroencephalogram (EEG) headsets and gave them 20 minutes to write a short essay. (source)
Dr. Kosmyna wanted to specifically explore the impacts of using AI for schoolwork, because more and more students are using AI.
The study divided 54 subjects—18 to 39 year-olds—into three groups.
• One group was directed to write without any outside assistance
• A second group was allowed to use a search engine
• A third group was instructed to write with the assistance of OpenAI’s GPT-4o model
The process was repeated four times over several months.
EEG revealed significant differences in brain connectivity (as seen in image a top):
• Brain–only participants exhibited the strongest, most widely distributed activity and neural networks (see image above)
• Search Engine users showed moderate engagement
• LLM users displayed the weakest neural connectivity and engagement
Researchers used an EEG to record the writers’ brain activity across 32 regions, and found that of the three groups, ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement and “consistently under-performed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.” Over the course of several months, ChatGPT users got lazier with each subsequent essay, often resorting to copy-and-paste by the end of the study.” (source)
According to Time.com, other shocking but predictable results included:
“The group that wrote essays using ChatGPT all delivered extremely similar essays that lacked original thought, relying on the same expressions and ideas.
“Two participating English teachers who assessed the essays called them largely “soulless”. The EEGs revealed “low executive control and attentional engagement”.
“And by their third essay, many of the writers simply gave the prompt to ChatGPT and had it do almost all of the work.”
The main study author Nataliya Kosmyna felt it was important to release the findings early to elevate concerns.
“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 in kindergarten.’ I think that would be absolutely bad and detrimental,” Dr. K did not hold back. The researchers sounded the warning: “Developing brains are at the highest risk and long-term brain development will be sacrificed in the process.”
Homeschooling families should also be aware of this, not just those with children in public and private schools.
Studies from earlier this year, for example, found that generally, the more time users spend talking to ChatGPT, the lonelier they feel.
Update (8/2025): Beware – Even Worse Harm Done!
More than harming the ability learn with your brain, there is a far more troubling agenda built into ChatGPT, that is bringing lawsuits by parents.
2 minutes.
Companies celebrating AI productivity gains are knowingly or unknowingly creating cognitively weaker employee teams. Employees become dependent on tools they can’t live without, and less capable of independent thinking.
MIT researchers called this outcome “cognitive debt” – like financial debt, but for your brain. Every shortcut one takes with AI creates interest payments in lost thinking ability.
And just like financial debt, the bill comes due eventually.
Related: Screen Time, Digital Drug: Brain Images Show It’s As Addictive As Opioids
Screentime Intervention Helps Angry, Depressed & Unmotivated Kids
“For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”… ~1 Corinthians 3:19
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” ~Ephesians 5: 15-16
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