Researchers at MIT found prolonged use of AI for essay writing may weaken brain function and critical-thinking skills. Three groups of individuals participating in a study were tasked with writing SAT-style essays using ChatGPT, Google, or no online tools at all. But for the fourth assignment, the ChatGPT group had to rewrite one of their essays without AI, relying solely on their own thinking. The previously AI-free group was instructed to use ChatGPT for the task.
According to the researchers, those who used ChatGPT "consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels." In addition, the ChatGPT users produced highly similar work that showed little originality.
AFN talked with Matt Lamb, associate editor for The College Fix. He finds the results unsurprising.
"It certainly would make sense that using technological shortcuts would weaken the ability to think critically. Any sort of shortcut weakens the muscles you use. If you're not exercising a muscle, it gets weaker," he states.
The researchers also cautioned that essay writers need to be careful of pitfalls that could easily arise. Lamb concurs.
"Of course, even with research, you still have to continue to evaluate the research on your own," he says. "These AI models have been known to make up stories, to make up quotes – and so even if students are using them to find sources, they do need to check out those sources to make sure [they] actually say what it says."
MIT researchers also found that the use of AI can foster habits of procrastination and laziness for both students and educators.
Read MIT paper: "Your brain on ChatGPT"
