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

Answer 4

This claim is true slightly as well as misleading.  A Futurism article highlighted growing concern that ChatGPT use could lead to procrastination and reduced mental effort. It quoted experts warning that people might rely on AI tools instead of thinking through tasks themselves, which could result in a weakening of cognitive habits over time. However, these concerns are largely speculative and not backed by long-term research. A TIME article also pointed out how AI tools like ChatGPT are changing the way students approach learning. Some educators reported students becoming less confident in their own abilities and more reliant on AI-generated content. However, these observations are anecdotal and reflect evolving learning behaviors, not necessarily cognitive decline.

Overall, while early evidence suggests that ChatGPT may impact how people engage with information, especially in academic settings, there is currently no conclusive evidence proving long-term harm to memory or cognitive function. Further, large-scale and longitudinal research is needed to validate these concerns.

Answer 5

I believe that this claim can’t be true or false but possibly misleading. The research is still ongoing and in its early stages. Time magazine  states that, “ Scientific studies examining the impacts of AI are still nascent and developing.” This quote is backed up by students at Harvard, that prove studies are not only just starting but developing which means we cannot prove this claim true or false. 

Answer 6

I believe the post is referring to the study conducted by MIT, which sought to determine the “cognitive debt” of using AI assistants like ChatGPT for essay writing (Psychology Today) (Phys Org). The study, which used fifty-four participants, found that the participants who used ChatGPT to write an essay had a more difficult time recalling their papers (New York Post). However, when the participants who did not use ChatGPT could use ChatGPT to rewrite one of their essays, they showed an increase in brain connectivity, demonstrating that AI can still enhance learning (Time). This claim is false because participants came back after months, not five minutes as the post claims, after writing their essay (Phys Org). The author of the post seems to be using the mere existence of the study to corroborate their own statements. Moreover, although the study is insightful, I would caution against citing it as it has only fifty-four subjects, all from the Boston area and ranging from eighteen to thirty-nine years old (Time). A larger, more diverse sample size could be more telling about the implications of AI use for essay writing.

Answer 7

This claim was widely circulated without a named study, leading to skepticism about its validity. However, recent research from MIT’s Media Lab provides context that supports the general concern behind the claim. In a study titled Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing, researchers divided 54 participants into three groups: those using ChatGPT, those using search engines, and those writing without tools. EEG scans revealed that ChatGPT users showed the lowest brain engagement and consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.

https://time.com/7295195/ai-chatgpt-google-learning-school/

More specifically, a follow-up session tested memory recall by asking participants to summarize essays they had written minutes earlier. The results showed that over 83% of ChatGPT users struggled to recall key information, suggesting a measurable decline in short-term memory performance. While this doesn’t prove that ChatGPT causes permanent memory loss, it does indicate that reliance on AI tools may impair cognitive engagement and retention during tasks. The original claim is therefore partially true—a legitimate study supports the statistic, but the framing (“ruining your memory”) is exaggerated. The claim is exaggerated and misleading. 

https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/your-brain-on-chatgpt/

https://www.ainvest.com/news/mit-study-finds-83-chatgpt-users-struggle-memory-recall-2506/