MIT Study Reveals How ChatGPT Affects Your Brain

With schools back in session, educators, students, and parents are all grappling with the role of artificial intelligence in the classroom. AI tools are already a part of our daily lives, powering everything from search engines to smartphone apps, but it's less clear how this powerful technology is affecting our brains—especially in academic settings where learning is the primary goal.

A preliminary study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology makes an early attempt to shed light on this question. The initial results may make you think twice about using ChatGPT as your go-to homework helper.

The Experiment on AI and Essay Writing

The study, which has been submitted for publication, asked 54 Boston-area college students to write essays on topics taken from SAT tests. The participants were divided into three groups: one could use ChatGPT, another could use the Google search engine, and a third group had no external tools.

“We called them the brain-only group in the paper,” said Nataliya Kosmyna, a research scientist with MIT's Media Lab who led the study. “Meaning that they actually couldn't use any other tools.”

Kosmyna and her team monitored the students’ brain activity, specifically measuring “neural connectivity,” which refers to the level of communication between different parts of the brain.

What the Brain Scans Revealed

The researchers found that students who received AI assistance showed less brain activity than those who did the work on their own. The team observed that both the amount and quality of brain connections decreased as students relied more on technology.

There were also differences in the quality of the essays. According to Kosmyna, the students who used ChatGPT “generated actually very homogenous essays.” She elaborated on these findings in an interview with WBUR’s On Point.

Kosmyna cautions that this study isn’t a measure of intelligence. “This doesn't mean that they were stupid or there was some brain rot or brain damage,” she said. “It's really just, again, how much data flow was happening” inside their brains.

A Surprising Twist in the Research

After the initial stage, a smaller group of 18 students returned to rewrite their essays, but this time they had to switch tools. This led to an interesting discovery. The students who had previously used ChatGPT showed less brain activity than the original brain-only group, even though they no longer had access to the AI tool.

Even more intriguing, the students who started the experiment using only their brains, and were then given access to ChatGPT, showed strong brain activity even when using AI assistance. This led Kosmyna to pose a critical question: “Does the timing potentially matter when you introduce tools like ChatGPT in the educational setting?”

The Cognitive Tradeoffs of AI Shortcuts

Kosmyna notes that it makes sense for brains to work less hard when using a tool designed to help. However, the study suggests there are cognitive tradeoffs. Our brains love shortcuts, but those aren't always the most effective ways to learn.

“You actually do need to have some challenge, some significant amount of challenge in learning, because you will learn more,” said Kosmyna.

She plans to conduct larger studies with younger students and adults. In the meantime, her advice to students is to be mindful about how they use AI. Before opening ChatGPT, consider whether you truly need it or are just looking for a shortcut. She also reminds students to cherish classroom time and in-person connections with peers and teachers for mentorship and the exchange of ideas.

“This is all precious,” Kosmyna said. “You have your whole life to sit in front of a computer.”