Here’s what using ChatGPT does to your brain

If you are using chatbots too much, you will become dumber, researchers said. Well, not in those exact words, but that’s pretty much the gist of the 206-page study on how reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) affects our brains.

Massachusetts College of Art and Design, MIT, MIT Media Lab, and Wellesley College researchers published a 206-page study, Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task, delving into the consequences does constant usage of large language models (LLMs).

In other words, they tested whether constantly tapping into ChatGPT leads to deteriorating brain function.

To cut to the chase, people who are using their brains not only remain smarter but also more satisfied with the job they did.

And now, let’s rewind a little bit. Researchers recruited 54 participants and divided them into the following three groups of 18 people: LLM group, Search Engine group, and Brain-only group. As their names suggest, they had to either write an essay using LLM, a search engine, or solely relying on themselves.

Out of 54 participants, 18 were asked to participate in a final session, during which LLM group members were asked not to use any tools, and the brain-only group was asked to use LLMs.

The study results are based on electroencephalography (EEG), NLP analysis, and individual interviews with each participant.

“We found that the Brain-only group exhibited strong variability in how participants approached essay writing across most topics. In contrast, the LLM group produced statistically homogeneous essays within each topic, showing significantly less deviation compared to the other groups,” the paper reads.

And the Search Engine group was seemingly influenced by the content promoted by a given search engine.

Researchers also noted that LLM users had trouble quoting their own essays mere minutes after writing them.

Other groups not only remembered their own essays, but also quoted them with near 100% accuracy. Brain-only group participants could even remember their essays after the 4th session, where they were asked to use LLMs.

“Taken together, the behavioral data revealed that higher levels of neural connectivity and

internal content generation in the Brain-only group correlated with stronger memory, greater

semantic accuracy, and firmer ownership of written work,” the study said.

Essentially, it seems as if the researchers are saying that AI could be used in the educational environment. However, introducing it at an early stage of, for example, essay writing, could impair the learning process as people fail to internalize the information.

“AI tools, while valuable for supporting performance, may unintentionally hinder deep cognitive processing, retention, and authentic engagement with written material,” the research concludes.