Brain activity much lower when using AI chatbots, MIT boffins find

[GoneOffShore]

Last edited Fri Jun 20, 2025, 04:19 PM - Edit history (1)

The Register - the place to go for all things IT and geeky with a full helping of English snark - put this interesting piece out about using LLM chatbots for writing.
I read the opening paragraphs to Mrs GoS and her response was 'Well, duh!"

Using AI chatbots actually reduces activity in the brain versus accomplishing the same tasks unaided, and may lead to poorer fact retention, according to a new preprint study out of MIT.
Seeking to understand how the use of LLM chatbots affects the brain, a team led by MIT Media Lab research scientist Dr. Nataliya Kosmyna hooked up a group of Boston-area college students to electroencephalogram (EEG) headsets and gave them 20 minutes to write a short essay. One group was directed to write without any outside assistance, a second group was allowed to use a search engine, and a third was instructed to write with the assistance of OpenAI's GPT-4o model. The process was repeated four times over several months.

While not yet peer reviewed, the pre-publication research results suggest a striking difference between the brain activity of the three groups and the corresponding creation of neural connectivity patterns.

To put it bluntly and visually, brain activity in the LLM-using cohort was … a bit dim.

Graphic

Here's a link to the article - https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/18/is_ai_changing_our_brains/?td=rt-3a

[Attilatheblond]

1. Ah, now I understand!

TPTB do not want people thinking effectively, so a new shiny thing....

[highplainsdem]

2. K&R! And here's a link to an LBN thread about a different news story on that MIT study:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143481256

[littlemissmartypants]

3. Duh.

[Skittles]

4. right?

who knew that using "the work of others" might diminish your own competency?