AI – bad for the brain?
We are indebted to Jefferies for their excellent summary of a recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study led by Dr. Kosmyna entitled ‘Your Brain on ChatGPT’.
This study found that students who relied solely on ChatGPT for essay writing exhibited significantly less widespread brain connectivity compared to those who used only their own cognitive resources or, indeed, traditional search engines.
Interestingly the study showed that when students switched from AI assistance back to ‘brain only’ tasks their functional brain connectivity did not recover fully. Only 17% of ChatGPT users could recall or quote from their own essays just one minute after completion. This compared to just 89% in both the search engine and brain-only groups.
This raises valid concerns about memory retention and deep learning. The study suggests that children who grow up using large language models (LLMs) may miss out on developing critical thinking and judgment skills. LLMs rarely ‘push back’ or generate nuanced feedback. This could lead to cognitive homogenization and skill erosion.
Dumbed down is the phase that comes to mind.
The hype associated with AI, data centres and LLMs continues but this study raises valid concerns if exposure to AI occurs at an early age.
The good news for the oldies amongst us is that the study recognised that the introduction of AI tools after traditional foundational cognitive skills are established looks to be less detrimental.
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