Study Reveals ChatGPTs Negative Brain Effects

The Rise of AI and Emerging Brain Concerns

Technology advances tirelessly. The emergence of virtual reality, artificial intelligence and other advances are constantly being updated and undergoing innovations. In addition, their application is becoming more and more common in our daily lives and, little by little, we are seeing how fundamental they will be in the coming months and years. The world will function with them and it is adapt or die.

However, there are many studies that are beginning to show the negative effects of the use of these advances on our bodies and, specifically, on our minds. This has been warned by the study 'Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt When Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task' broken down by Dr. Antelm Pujol (@AntelmPujol) in a thread through his X account.

How the Study Investigated AI's Cognitive Effects

The study was conducted with an EEG test and linguistic analysis. EEG refers to the electroencephalogram, which is a medical test that records the electrical activity of the brain during a given process. It is often used to diagnose neurological conditions such as epilepsy, sleep disorders or brain injuries. This test consists of placing small electrodes on the scalp to detect the electrical signals generated by neurons.

The data that these tests have revealed is quite worrying. To arrive at this data, the participants were divided into three different groups. Each group occupied one of the established sectors, between ChatGPT, Google or just the brain (without external help). After three study sessions, some stopped using ChatGPT, however, the brain experienced real changes and modifications.

Key Findings: ChatGPT's Detrimental Impact on Users

After the study was conducted, the data it yielded was remarkably worrying. More than 80% of the individuals analysed who used ChatGPT to write their texts did not remember what they had written. However, those who wrote unaided had the greatest connectivity and distributed brain activity. Those who used Google were in between the AI and non-AI individuals.

In the last session that was held, those who went from using ChatGPT to writing with the only help of their brain, showed brain inactivity, something especially worrying. As a detail, those who used ChatGPT to write their texts did not feel ownership of them, failed to remember or cite the information of what they had written and the use of this artificial intelligence reduced their cognitive, linguistic and behavioral performance for four months.