ChatGPT is ruining your memory

Question

This claim comes from a post by a branding and marketing guy named Martin Masrna who says "83% of participants [in an unnamed study] failed to quote their [presumably AI-assisted] essays." 

Answer 1

This claim is partially true, but misleading as the studies conducted are in the early stages. The New York Post reported on a study that was conducted by MIT, which found that "students who used ChatGPT to complete essays had poorer cognitive skills than those who relied on just their brain." The study involved 54 students going into three groups and writing several SAT essays. They found that the "ChatGPT group didn’t recall much info from their papers, indicating either a lack of engagement or an inability to remember it." While this may show that people are using their brain less when using ChatGPT, this does not indicate that memory is permanently damaged. The study only used a small group of students and short-term use, not long-lasting effects. Additional studies must be concluded in order to prove this claim.

Answer 2

This claim is very exaggerated. The reason being is that there are no links to ChatGPT and losing memory. Scientific America says, "The brains of people writing an essay with ChatGPT are less engaged than those of people blocked from using any online tools for the task". (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-using-chatgpt-really-change-your-brain-activity/) This quote shows how ChatGPT effects other parts of the mind and not specifically memory. In an MIT study, "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." (https://time.com/7295195/ai-chatgpt-google-learning-school/) This provides evidence behind the idea that its not ChatGPT making your memory worse but instead it is causing the users to be lazy which could lead to forgetting the information. According to The Conversation, "Using ChatGPT to help write essays, the researchers say, can lead to cognitive debt." This also supports the idea that Chat GPT doesn't specifically lead to loss of memory but instead can cause lazy forgetfulness. 

Answer 3

This claim is true in some sense, as well as false. The idea that the use of ChatGPT and other AI tools has the power to ruin your memory is tricky to answer, to say the least, considering how new the software really is. Because of this, we don’t currently have enough studies to go off of. That being said, I found one conducted by the MIT Media Lab that supports the claim. According to the source Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Tasks. MIT Media Lab found in their study of 54 participants that those who used ChatGPT to write their essays had a much harder time recalling information, as well as showing lower brain activity.

In addition, Duke University published its findings, which showed that students who used LLMs (Large Language Models) “focused on a narrower set of ideas, resulting in more biased and superficial analyses,” demonstrating some of the harms its usage may cause.

On the flip side, others are in favor of its use and actually believe it is doing good for the brain. One of these comes from Herzing University, which stated that “ChatGPT enables students to delve deeper into subjects, encouraging self-directed exploration.” Furthermore, they claim it supports collaborative work by helping draft group presentation outlines.

Where we are currently, understanding if this is truly harming us is difficult. We still need more research before coming to a clear conclusion.



ChatGPT and the Role of the Student

Does AI Harm Critical Thinking - Duke Learning Innovation & Lifetime Education

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task — MIT Media Lab