WARNING: AI is making a generation of stupid people. Do you use AI?
MIT, Microsoft, and Carnegie Mellon revealed AI’s hidden cost — and it’s happening inside your brain right now.
Do you want the 50-page case study I did on the topic? Go to:
https://humanbehaviorschool.thinkific.com/products/digital_downloads/new-digital-download
Recent research from MIT has sparked urgent debate about the long-term effects of using AI assistants like ChatGPT for cognitively demanding tasks, particularly essay writing. While AI offers convenience and efficiency, the study titled “Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task” reveals troubling evidence that overreliance on such tools may erode our critical thinking, memory, and sense of ownership — raising the specter of a new kind of “cognitive debt” .
Pool study:
Researchers divided 54 student participants into 3 groups and assessed them over 4 months:
· ChatGPT/LLM group: Used ChatGPT exclusively for essay writing
· Search Engine group: Used traditional web searches like Google (no AI)
· Brain-only group: Wrote essays using only their memory and reasoning
Key FIndings:
- Your brain stops trying
- The more you used AI, the less your brain worked
- You forget what you wrote
- Once you switch to AI, it’s hard to go back
- Using AI first made everything worse
The Cognitive Risks of AI-Assisted Writing
- Weakened Brain Engagement: The MIT study used EEG scans to compare brain activity among three groups: those using ChatGPT, those using a search engine, and those writing unaided. The ChatGPT group consistently showed the lowest neural connectivity and brain engagement — up to 55% less than the brain-only group
- Impaired Memory and Ownership: Participants who relied on ChatGPT struggled to recall information or quote from their own essays, even minutes after writing them. They also reported a diminished sense of ownership over their work
- Reduced Critical Thinking: Over four months, ChatGPT users became increasingly passive, defaulting to copy-and-paste behaviors and exhibiting less creativity and critical inquiry. When asked to write without AI, they repeated narrow ideas and used AI-like vocabulary, suggesting a lasting impact on their thinking patterns
- Accumulation of Cognitive Debt: Researchers coined the term “cognitive debt” to describe how repeated reliance on AI tools defers mental effort in the short term but leads to long-term costs: diminished critical thinking, decreased creativity, and increased vulnerability to manipulation
“Cognitive debt defers mental effort in the short term but results in long-term costs, such as diminished critical inquiry, increased vulnerability to manipulation, decreased creativity.” — MIT Study Authors
Conclusion:
We all use AI, we’ve used it for years, and I can’t function without it (I’m dyslexic). What I can’t comprehend is that some people replace their cognitive thinking with AI. Your brain is the most beautiful thing about you — it’s your personality, your ideas, your voice.
Don’t lose it!
Do you want the 50-page case study I did on the topic? Go to: https://humanbehaviorschool.thinkific.com/products/digital_downloads/new-digital-download
If you and your team need help creating a safe space to think, create and use their voice. Call me.
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About the Author:
Susan is a former political influence consultant, profiler, and civilian hostage negotiator, with expertise, studies and Master’s in Human Behavior, Behavior Economics, Neuroscience and a nerd for data. Susan works on the humans that grow your business | High-performance Human Behavior training- I teach corporations & employees how to hack into humans using Behavior, Neuroscience & Persuasion |Behavior Economics
She has been called Freaky and the top expert on her field, by the Chicago Tribune and Psychology Today, by showing how to profile anyone in 30 seconds.
She is the author and researcher of “Irrational Humans. People Make 35,000 Decisions a Day and 95% are Irrational, but Why & How?”
Topics:
- Body Language
- Micro Expressions
- Behavior Economics
- Neuroscience
- Consumer Behavior
- Persuasion
- Influence
- Behavior Science
