Are You Letting AI Do Too Much of Your Thinking? MIT Says It Could Be Hurting Your Brain

A new MIT study has raised some very serious concerns regarding how our increased use of AI tools such as ChatGPT may be reshaping the way that we think—and, perhaps, not for the best.
For four months, researchers monitored the brain activity of 54 university students through EEG scans. What they discovered was dramatic: students who were often using AI to assist with assignments had much lower brain activity, generated less original content, and were unable to remember what they wrote—even when they switched tasks to those which had no AI aid.
This behavior, previously described as “mental passivity,” wasn’t laziness. It was a measurable decrease in mental effort, and it suggested that the convenience of AI came at the cost of our most valuable mental qualities: memory, imagination, and critical thinking.
The study warns against a so-called echo chamber effect, where students who are overly dependent on AI begin to adopt its suggestions as if they were their own. Over time, this can undermine their ability to judge ideas, synthesize information, or generate original solutions.“AI is best used as a support—not a substitute—for human thinking,” the scientists warn.

This discovery doesn’t imply that we should abandon AI altogether. On the contrary, used judiciously, tools like ChatGPT can be efficiency-boosting, inspirational, and even assist in tightening arguments. But when we start outsourcing too much thinking, we risk short-circuiting the very mechanisms in our brains that enable learning—and original thinking to occur.

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into everyday scholarly and professional life, the challenge will be balancing things: utilizing these tools to augment and enhance our thinking, rather than substitute for it.

What You Can Do:

Have AI as a brainstorming partner, but not as a ghostwriter.

Go back over your AI-driven products. Can you describe or even remember what you’ve made?

Prioritize memory-building and analysis tasks—without prompts.

In an era more and more defined by artificial intelligence, this study is a timely reminder: the human brain still requires exercise. Don’t let yours go dormant.