The ChatGPT Study That Has Everyone Talking

A wake up call for everyone

The Wake-Up Call We All Needed

A new study of MIT’s Media Lab is giving us serious pause on how reliant our society has become on AI tools like ChatGPT and the high cognitive cost that comes with it.

The study took 54 participants in the Boston area (ages 18-39) and divided them into three groups for an experiment: write SAT essays using either ChatGPT, Google search, or just their own brains. Then they strapped EEGs to their heads to monitor brain activity across 32 different regions while they worked.

The results showed some very interesting patterns…

ChatGPT users displayed lower brain activity across the board and and consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. After several months, the pattern grew more concerning. The ChatGPT group became less engaged with the writing process and by the end of the study resorted to just wholly copying and pasting their essays directly.

Two English teachers who blindly assessed the ChatGPT essays delivered a brutal verdict, calling the papers largely "soulless." All the ChatGPT-assisted essays were not only similar to each other but completely lacked original thought.

Meanwhile, participants using only their brains showed stronger neural connectivity, particularly in areas associated with creativity, memory, and processing. They also expressed more satisfaction with their essays.

Why Publish Early?

Here’s the thing, this study is small and hasn't even been peer reviewed, yet, the lead author, Nataliya Kosmyna, published the study immediately. Why?

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