What brain scans say about ChatGPT
An MIT study measured what happens in the brain when people write with ChatGPT. Cutting AI out isn't the answer either.
Daniel Gibbon21 August 2026MIT researchers measured the brain activity of 54 people, aged 18 to 39, while they wrote essays. They tested three groups: brain only, Google Search, and ChatGPT.
The group using ChatGPT showed the lowest brain connectivity of the three, and connectivity scaled down with the amount of outside help. The study is new and has not been peer-reviewed yet.
But the findings raise a serious question about what repeated AI use could do to developing brains: weaker critical thinking, poorer memory and reduced cognitive engagement, especially when that dependence starts early.
“A generation that can't use its own brain is scarier to me than the technology itself.”
Think about what technology has already done to other skills. As keyboards replaced handwriting, there's been a global trend of students getting worse at handwriting, spelling and written recall. Calculators worsened our ability to do mental maths.
So what happens when students start offloading parts of the thinking process to AI? That's much more concerning.
But completely cutting out AI isn't an option either. Students need to learn how to use technology in a way that they can still understand and explain their own work afterwards, rather than just submit it. For example, AI that asks questions instead of giving direct answers.
A middle ground has to exist. Because a generation that can't use its own brain is scarier to me than the technology itself.