On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti Does using AI dumb you down?
19 snips
Jan 1, 2026 Natalia Kosmina, a senior researcher at MIT specializing in AI's effects on cognition, and Barry Gordon, a director at Johns Hopkins University focusing on brain function, discuss how AI writing tools may dull our cognitive abilities. They explore a study revealing that using ChatGPT leads to reduced brain connectivity, impacting creativity and memory. The guests emphasize the importance of engaging our mental faculties before relying on AI, advocating for drafting ideas initially and using AI as a tool for refinement.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Writing Mode Changes Brain Connectivity
- Natalia Kosmina's MIT study measured brain connectivity while students wrote essays using ChatGPT, Google, or only their own brains.
- Brain-only writers showed the most widespread connectivity linked to creative and episodic memory areas, while ChatGPT users showed reduced connectivity.
Study Sparked By Students Copy-Pasting AI
- Natalia began the study after seeing her students copy-paste ChatGPT outputs and report changing memory experiences.
- She used lab EEG equipment to test how the brain works when students wrote essays with different tools.
AI Produces Homogenous Writing
- Essays from ChatGPT users were noticeably more homogenous in vocabulary and topic focus compared with search or brain-only groups.
- Teachers could detect micro differences from human writers but found ChatGPT essays stylistically uniform.
