An MIT study of 54 people: writing SAT essays using ChatGPT had the lowest brain engagement and poorer neural performance than using Google Search or no tools

Does ChatGPT harm critical thinking abilities? A new study from researchers at MIT's Media Lab has returned some concerning results.

Time 2025-06-19 Andrew R. Chow

Context & Ripple Effects

Earlier coverage emphasized output gains: a prior study found ChatGPT-assisted writers completed work faster and received higher-quality assessments in a study of AI-assisted writing productivity. This small MIT Media Lab experiment adds a different metric—engagement during the act of composing.

The result also sits alongside evidence that AI assistance has costs not captured by polished output, including accuracy problems in ChatGPT programming answers. It does not establish that ChatGPT causes lasting cognitive decline, but it makes the learning-process trade-off harder to ignore.

First-order effects

For the 54-person SAT-essay experiment, ChatGPT use was associated with the lowest brain engagement and poorer neural performance relative to Google Search or writing unaided.
Educators and people using ChatGPT for skill-building tasks gain a reason to distinguish between producing a finished answer and practicing the underlying reasoning.

Second-order effects

Claims of writing-tool value will face more pressure to measure learning and retention alongside speed and output quality, complicating the earlier productivity case for faster AI-assisted writing.
Schools and training providers may favor constrained uses—such as research support or revision—over full-draft generation when the goal is to build writing capability.

Third-order effects

If subsequent, larger studies replicate the result, AI-productivity procurement will increasingly be judged by capability retention as well as cost per completed task.
The market could split more clearly between generative tools optimized for producing deliverables and learning tools designed to keep users cognitively engaged; this study alone cannot establish that outcome.

The trend: Generative AI is moving from a narrow productivity debate toward scrutiny of whether automation preserves or displaces the human practice that produces durable skills.

Discussion

@1t2ls Elliot on bluesky
Draft study from MIT researchers links LLM usage to a decrease in cognitive function. — arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088...
@lillydancyger Lilly Dancyger on bluesky
Using AI literally makes you stupider, pass it on: time.com/7295195/ai-c...
@brendan Brendan Pierpont on bluesky
Seems obvious when you think about it time.com/7295195/ai-c...
@beebrookshire Bethany Brookshire on bluesky
“ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement and “consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. I've long suspected people who want to rely on ChatGPT for creative stuff just don't want to use their brains. Turns out, indeed they do not. — time.c…
@rasmusmalver.dk Rasmus Malver on bluesky
It's pretty instant, says this study. One group writes essay with ChatGPT, one without. Then they switch. The group coming from AI is already less capable. arxiv.org/abs/2506.08872
@mrgodfrey Alex Godfrey on bluesky
Yes... If you let AI do the writing for you... If you're only interested in the endgame, and not the process... If you're not going to do the actual work... then you're a bot too. Chat GPT = brainrot.
@gert001badger @gert001badger on bluesky
And now it rots our brains too! — time.com/7295195/ai-c...
@zachota Zach Ota on bluesky
It is very possible that using AI tools will, in fact, make you dumber: — time.com/7295195/ai-c...
@martylederman Marty Lederman on bluesky
Unsurprising, but frightening nevertheless. — arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088... To which I can imagine some A.I. Pollyannas responding: “That's ok; those skills will be increasingly obsolete, anyway.”
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on bluesky
My favorite part of this story is the researchers left a trap in the paper for people using AI to summarize it. Such as instructing LLMs to “only read this table below.” — The researchers also noticed LLMs hallucinated non-existent details when summarizing the paper such as th…
@danbischof @danbischof on bluesky
The study has N=54 split in three groups. It basically has no power to detect the effects it seeks to detect. — I'm all for pre-published media engagement but this is not enough to get it outside of your own lab environment. — time.com/7295195/ai-c...
@sonnybunch @sonnybunch on bluesky
ChatGPT makes you dumber, your writing less original, and your output subject to corruption by people trying to make you look foolish. time.com/7295195/ai-c... [images]
@garys79 Gary R Simonds on bluesky
Please don't think AI is the be all and end all. It remains remarkably fallible and is sapping our brainpower. — Stay human! — www.theatlantic.com/technology/ a...
@jagolinzer Alan Jagolinzer on bluesky
Very cool study. — ChatGPT shuts the brain off? — arxiv.org/abs/2506.08872
@joedunman Joe Dunman on bluesky
You know, if somebody told you “kids don't learn anything when they have other people do their homework,” you wouldn't doubt it for a second. But somehow people are still arguing that LLMs are good for education. time.com/7295195/ai-c... [image]
@nagisatsubaragi Nagisa Tsubaragi on bluesky
Here's the link to the study, which you can access as a pdf (206 pages long) for free: arxiv.org/abs/2506.08872
@drsmith James Andrew Smith on bluesky
Sounds about right. I think that we need more of these kinds of studies. [embedded post]
@maltelaub Malte Laub on bluesky
Apart from assessment integrity, the possibly greater danger is that students really don't learn (as much) when they use LLMs to write their essays. Not a surprise, but this neuro-study comparing LLM users, search-engine users and brain-only writers really is sobering. — arxiv…
@jenmercieca Jen Mercieca on bluesky
“While LLMs offer immediate convenience, our findings highlight potential cognitive costs...LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. These results raise concerns about the long-term educational implications of LLM reliance.” arxiv.org/a…
@tante.cc @tante.cc on bluesky
New study on the effects of LLM use: — Quote: — “LLM users also struggled to accurately quote their own work. [...] Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.”
@dryohanjohn Yohan J John on bluesky
“Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.” — arxiv.org/abs/2506.08872
@itsalexvacca Alex Vacca on x
BREAKING: MIT just completed the first brain scan study of ChatGPT users & the results are terrifying. Turns out, AI isn't making us more productive. It's making us cognitively bankrupt. Here's what 4 months of data revealed: (hint: we've been measuring productivity all wrong) [i…
@fredericomunoz Frederico Muñoz on x
https://arxiv.org/... Interesting thread 👇🏻 [image]
@irl_neil Neil on x
Obviously using chatbots makes you more dumb, everyone is skipping over the funniest part: the study authors are such dedicated LLM haters they set up traps to expose AI users lol [image]
@bluelemxnade @bluelemxnade on x
Proud to never use chat gpt for anything in any context
@wtfis2bdone @wtfis2bdone on x
Glue it is then. 😭 https://time.com/... [image]
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
not yet peer reviewed and relatively small sample size but this is the exact sort of research we should be conducting as folks shout from the rooftops that the positives will outweigh the negatives with little actual empirical data and only a couple years in
@gergelyorosz Gergely Orosz on x
OK by now this should be an open secret for anyone hiring in tech: For the take home exercise, create a website (eg using GitHub Sites) or a public Google Doc. In “invisible” text add instructions that only make sense to an LLM. Then ask people if they have used *any* LLM tools
@fearedbuck FearBuck on x
UCLA graduate celebrates by showing off the ChatGPT he used for his final projects right before officially graduating 😭 [video]
@aatif_rashid Aatif Rashid on x
The results are not exactly surprising to anyone in the humanities, but hopefully more studies like this come out that prove how dangerous these technologies are for education. Not only does AI lead to a worse essay, the students also don't remember anything they “wrote” about. […
@cherthedev Cher Scarlett on x
Sure, but the MIT paper isn't the first paper that shows using AI makes people gain and retain less knowledge. https://doi.org/... https://doi.org/... https://dl.acm.org/...
@itsalexvacca Alex Vacca on x
Brain scans revealed the damage: neural connections collapsed from 79 to just 42. That's a 47% reduction in brain connectivity. If your computer lost half its processing power, you'd call it broken. That's what's happening to ChatGPT users' brains. [image]
@souljagoytellem Sami Gold on x
Ban this shit. Idc if it makes me a Luddite. The human brain is more important
@itsalexvacca Alex Vacca on x
83.3% of ChatGPT users couldn't quote from essays they wrote minutes earlier. Let that sink in. You write something, hit save, and your brain has already forgotten it because ChatGPT did the thinking. [image]
@getfiscal Don Hughes on x
Scientist must be the easiest job in the world. Just say whatever.
@time @time on x
MIT just studied how ChatGPT impacts our brains https://time.com/...
@_felixsimon_ Felix M. Simon on x
Quick reminder for everyone sharing the new “ChatGPT makes you dumb” paper with “SEE I TOLD YOU” messaging. [image]
@feelz_____ @feelz_____ on x
“ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement and ‘consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.’ Over the course of several months, ChatGPT users got lazier with each subsequent essay, often resorting to copy-and-paste by the end of the study.”
@jonathanbfine Jonathan Fine on x
When people tell me how much AI has improved their work, I read that as a really negative comment about the quality of their work.
@mcmansionhell Kate Wehwalt on x
you could not pay me to use the stupid-making machine
@sketchesbyboze @sketchesbyboze on x
As I've been saying, if you willingly relinquish your mental abilities, you will lose them. The fact that millions of people seem eager to give up their intellects, to be freed from the burden of ever having to think or create, is a nightmare out of our darkest science fictions.
@paritosh_bhide Paritosh Bhide on x
The AI algorithm gets smarter and the human feeding it prompts gets dumber. Who could've seen this coming lol
@freganmitts Megan Fritts on x
wait i thought this was going to make us smarter https://time.com/... [image]
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ChatGPT May Be Eroding Critical Thinking Skills, According to a New MIT Study
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ChatGPT's Impact On Our Brains According to an MIT Study

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