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MIT study raises alarm: ChatGPT use reduced brain activity in students by up to 55%
2026-04-25 16:01:12 / TRENDING
When scientist Nataliya Kosmyna was looking for interns, she noticed that the cover letters she received were surprisingly similar: long, elaborate, and with an abstract, vague connection to her work.
It was clear to him that the applicants were using large language models, a form of artificial intelligence, to write these letters.
While teaching on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus, Kosmyna, who studies human-computer interaction, noticed that many students were forgetting information more easily. With the increasing reliance on artificial intelligence, she suspected that this could be affecting cognitive skills and decided to study it.
Studies have shown that young people may be particularly vulnerable to the negative effects that AI can have on key skills like critical thinking. However, Kosmyna wanted to delve deeper into these effects. She and her colleagues recruited 54 students to write short essays and divided them into three groups. One group used ChatGPT, another could use Google search, and the third group used no technology at all. Each student’s brain waves were measured during the process.
The results have not yet been published, but Kosmyna said they were impressive. Those who used only their minds had brains that were “on fire,” with high activity. The group that used only the search engine had strong activity in visual areas, while the ChatGPT group showed significantly less activity, up to 55% less.
ChatGPT also affected people's memory. After submitting their essays, participants in the AI group were unable to quote from their texts. Other studies have also shown that people become less able to retain and recall information when using tools like ChatGPT.
A study from the University of Pennsylvania suggests that some people experience what’s called “cognitive surrender,” accepting answers without analysis and allowing AI to replace intuition. Delegating work to artificial intelligence also risks losing the creativity that produces original work, Kosmyna warns. Essays written with ChatGPT looked very similar and were described as “soulless,” lacking originality and depth.
While these studies show short-term effects, the long-term impacts are still unclear. One study showed that even after four months, students who had used ChatGPT had fewer active neural connections in their brains. For long-term brain health, experts emphasize that we need to constantly challenge ourselves.
Nearly two decades ago, it was predicted that excessive use of GPS could lead to an increase in dementia. Although this has not been fully confirmed, studies show that GPS use is associated with impaired spatial memory.
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