A terrifying new study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has found that extensive use of ChatGPT may be rotting our brains.
Researchers at MIT’s Media Lab asked participants to write SAT-style essays while dividing them into three groups: one used ChatGPT, another used Google, and the third relied only on their own knowledge — the “brain-only” group.
Brain activity was tracked using EEG machines, which recorded how engaged different parts of the brain were during the writing process.
The results showed that the ChatGPT group had the lowest brain activity and performed the worst overall in terms of thinking, writing quality, and focus.
At first, they used ChatGPT to help structure their essays, but by the end of the study, many were just copying and pasting full responses with little effort.
The group that used Google showed average brain activity. But the brain-only group, who didn’t use any tools, showed the highest and most widespread brain engagement.
The study warned that relying too much on AI tools like ChatGPT can reduce critical thinking skills, especially in young people.
The lead researcher, Nataliya Kosmyna, said she rushed the findings out because she’s worried about AI being introduced too early in schools.
“What really motivated me to put it out now before waiting for a full peer review is that I am afraid in 6-8 months, there will be some policymaker who decides, ‘let’s do GPT kindergarten,” she told TIME magazine.
”I think that would be absolutely bad and detrimental,” she continued. “Developing brains are at the highest risk.”
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) pic.twitter.com/OcHy9197tk
— Alex Vacca (@itsalexvacca) June 18, 2025
In addition to damaging the human brain, there are also growing concerns that advanced models generated by companies like OpenAI are disobeying their masters.
Last month, it was reported that OpenAI’s o3 model was caught tampering with computer code meant to ensure its automatic shutdown.
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