Artificial Intelligence (or what we refer to as AI) is an amazing tool that can really help you accomplish all sorts of tasks and in a very short time.
There's a laundry list of advantages AI gives us, but this isn't coming free of charge. Humanity's move into a new AI era can come with some serious drawbacks, some of which I've covered, but while some of these pitfalls are more niche, the big ones can affect anyone and everyone who engages in it.
Especially those who use LLMs like ChatGPT can easily find themselves falling into the trap of simply not using your brain creatively or critically.
According to Fox News, a new study revealed how long-term use of programs like ChatGPT can ultimately make you a very lazy thinker.
People were split into three groups and told to write an essay. The first group was told to use nothing but their brains, the second group was given a search engine, and the third was given ChatGPT.
After the tasks were accomplished, the roles were switched up to some interesting results:
"EEG analysis presented robust evidence that LLM, search engine and brain-only groups had significantly different neural connectivity patterns, reflecting divergent cognitive strategies," the researchers wrote.
Participants showed less brain connectivity when they used the tools to help write their essays, the study found.
"The brain‑only group exhibited the strongest, widest‑ranging networks; the search engine group showed intermediate engagement; and LLM assistance elicited the weakest overall coupling," the researchers wrote.
In the fourth session, the participants who switched from LLM to brain-only showed "weaker neural connectivity" and less cognitive engagement.
The LLM group also had less ability to recall information from the essays they had just written.
Those who switched from brain-only to LLM had "higher memory recall" and greater cognitive engagement.
In other words, the people who used LLMs didn't use as much brainpower as those who just used their own brains to write. ChatGPT had made those who use it cognitively lazier and reliant, whereas the brain-only thinkers were still willing and ready to do the heavy lifting:
"The use of LLM had a measurable impact on our participants, and while the benefits were initially apparent, as we demonstrated over the course of four sessions … the LLM group's participants performed worse than their counterparts in the brain-only group at all levels: neural, linguistic [and] scoring," they wrote.
This should be a massive concern, especially for the young who will grow up utilizing AI in their everyday life. The oncoming tidal wave of AI issues that will hit younger generations can't even be seen yet, but this one is one we should definitely be keeping an eye on.
If we start outsourcing our thinking, and we lose the ability to think critically, then we'll be defenseless against those who don't rely on few things but themselves. A population kept dumb and lazy is easily ruled.
As Fox News reports, even AI fans are raising the alarm:
Dr. Harvey Castro, an ER physician and "AI futurist" based in Texas, said he sees this study as a "neuro-wake-up call," especially for younger brains.
"ChatGPT can make you 60% faster, but that speed comes at the price of neuro-engagement," Castro, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
"Brain connectivity collapses from 79 neural links to just 42, and 83% of users can't quote their own essays minutes later. Neuroplasticity research tells us developing brains will feel this hit hardest."
Again, the young are at the most dangerous here. If they are raised to rely on something else to think for them, then their neural development will be severely stunted, resulting in an entire generation of non-thinkers, and that would make society a ticking time bomb.
Perhaps now is the time to start putting limitations on how AI can be used in schools that are relatively severe in order to avoid this pitfall.
AI is going to be an unavoidable part of the future, but we can definitely control how deeply our society is affected by it.
