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POLITIKOFF

ChatGPT can damage your brain, here's what the study says

Politiko 2025-06-21 19:20:25

ChatGPT can damage your brain, here's what the study says

If you value critical thinking, you may want to rethink your use of ChatGPT.

While graduates proudly use ChatGPT for final projects, and with 89% of students admitting to using it for homework, have you ever wondered what effect this is having on our brains?

A new study by researchers at MIT divided 54 participants (aged 18 to 39 from the Boston area) into three groups. Each was tasked with writing 20-minute essays based on SAT questions using either OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s relatively more traditional search engine, or their own brains.

The researchers then used electroencephalograms (or EEGs) to record brain activity in 32 regions. Of the three groups, those helped by ChatGPT engaged their brains less and "performed consistently poorly on neural, language, and behavioral levels."

The study found that using ChatGPT reduced activity in brain regions associated with memory and learning, as "some 'human thinking and planning' was transferred to the LLM." As expected, ChatGPT users felt less responsibility for their essays compared to the other groups. They also had difficulty recalling or quoting from their essays immediately after submitting them, indicating how reliance on the LLM bypassed deep memory processes.

Over the course of several months, those using ChatGPT became lazier with each essay. By the end of the study, their work amounted to little more than copy-and-paste. Two English teachers who evaluated the essays called them largely “soulless.” The paper’s lead author, Nataliya Kosmyna, told Time: “It was more like, ‘Just give me the essay, perfect this sentence, edit it, and I’m done.’”

In comparison, the group that used their brains showed higher neural connectivity, were more engaged and curious, and expressed greater satisfaction with their essays. The Google Search group also showed higher satisfaction and active brain function.

Given how widely ChatGPT is now used in educational settings, these findings are cause for concern. A February 2025 OpenAI report on ChatGPT usage among college-aged users found that more than a quarter of their ChatGPT conversations were related to education. The report also found that the top five uses for students were centered around writing: starting papers and projects (49%), summarizing long texts (48%), brainstorming (45%), exploring new topics (44%), and revising writing (44%).

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