Is ChatGPT Making Us All Dumb? MIT Study Reveals How AI Can Affect A Child’s Brain

AI tools like ChatGPT have become a part of everyday life. People use it to draft emails, students rely on it for essays, and even professionals use it in everyday work. The convenience is obvious. It saves time, makes things easier, and it feels like you have a personal assistant for almost every task.

But, what is all of this doing to our minds? If we let an app think for us every single day, what happens to our own ability to think, remember, or create?

A new study from MIT has answered that question and the results are worrying. It suggests that heavy reliance on ChatGPT and similar AI tools might be weakening our memory, critical thinking, and even the way our brains function. The researchers also suggest that it may be causing “cognitive debt”. The impact is there for everyone, but for children, whose brains are still developing, the consequences might be far deeper and long lasting.

Let us explore what the study found, why this matters for both adults and children, and how to use AI tools without letting them take over your thinking ability.

What Does MIT Study Say?

MIT researchers wanted to find out how ChatGPT affects the brain. They followed 54 people for four months, tracking what happened in their brains while they wrote essays.

They divided them into three groups. One group used ChatGPT as their only source of help. The second used Google and other search engines. The third group had to write using only what they already knew, with no help from AI or even online search.

They scanned their brains using EEG machines and also tested memory and recall. The results were very clear. The people who wrote entirely on their own had the strongest brain activity. The group that used search engines had moderate brain activity. The group that used ChatGPT showed the weakest engagement in their brain networks.

What is more troubling is the fact that when the ChatGPT group was later asked to write without AI, their brain activity stayed low. The other groups adapted and showed more engagement when they switched tools. But those who used AI heavily did not. This tells us something important. ChatGPT might not just change how we think. It might actually make us think less over time.

How ChatGPT Affects Memory and Recall

The study further went on to ask the participants to recall quotes from the essays they had just written. This is where it gets even more interesting. Eighty-three percent of the people who used ChatGPT could not recall a single correct quote from their own essay, just minutes after writing it. Only eleven percent of people in the search engine group and eleven percent in the “brain-only” group had the same problem.

This is a significantly huge difference. It shows that when AI is doing most of the mental work, our brains are simply not holding on to the information the same way as our counterparts who used just their thinking ability to complete the task.

The Idea of “Cognitive Debt”

The researchers used the phrase “cognitive debt” to explain what is happening. It is like financial debt, but instead of money, you are borrowing thinking. 

Every time you let ChatGPT write something for you, you avoid using the parts of your brain that handle memory, language, and reasoning. It feels easy in the moment, but in the long run it is only weakening your cognitive skills. 

This can lead to less questioning of information, less effort to check facts, and less ability to come up with original thoughts. Creativity starts to diminish, because the brain isn’t being forced to connect ideas in new ways.

How AI is Affecting Children’s Brain Development

In adults, this is a serious issue but for growing children, it is a much bigger one. Children’s brains are still wiring themselves for memory, creativity, and focus. When they stop doing simple maths, stop memorising things, stop struggling through an essay, those brain circuits do not get built.

Dr. Rahul Chawla, Consultant Neurologist at IBS Hospital Lajpat Nagar South Delhi and Founder of Healthpil explains:

“Children today are growing up with instant access to AI tools like ChatGPT, and that convenience is changing how their brains develop. When they no longer memorise formulas, do simple calculations, or write their own essays, the parts of the brain responsible for working memory, recall, and executive function are used less, and they become less efficient over time. Creativity is also affected because activities like writing and problem‑solving are what build the pathways for association and flexible thinking. If AI keeps doing that work for them, children may start imitating its style instead of developing their own. In the long run, this heavy reliance could leave them quick at finding answers but far less capable of thinking deeply, remembering well, and creating on their own”

This means that if AI becomes the default for every homework assignment and project, we may end up with a generation that knows how to find answers instantly but doesn’t know how to think deeply or create anything new for themselves.

Are AI Tools Biased?

There is another side to this problem that doesn’t get enough attention. AI is not neutral. ChatGPT and similar tools are trained on huge amounts of data, much of it created by people, companies, and media with their own biases.

When you ask ChatGPT a question, the answer feels clean and objective. But it is built on patterns of what has been written online before. Some of that data reflects shareholder interests, media bias, or gaps in knowledge.

If you rely on ChatGPT for everything, you may not just stop thinking, you may start thinking the way the algorithm has been “trained” to think. This is another growing concern about the way these tools may be influencing adult and young minds alike.

Is It Possible to Use AI Without Losing Our Thinking Skills?

The answer is yes, but it requires effort. ChatGPT should be used as a tool, not as a replacement. Students can still write their drafts themselves before asking for edits. Professionals can use it to check grammar or look for missing points, but not to write every sentence from scratch.

Parents can encourage their children to still do mental maths, still write by hand, and still learn to memorise things. The struggle of writing, solving, and recalling is not wasted effort, rather, it is what builds and nurtures a growing brain.

How To Use AI Without Causing ‘Cognitive Debt’?

The key is not to turn away from AI, but to learn how to use it in a way that supports rather than replaces our own thinking. Tools like ChatGPT can be incredibly helpful, but they should never become the only source of thought. They should assist our minds, not take their place.

The findings from the brain scans clearly show that the way we use AI today will shape how we think tomorrow. That is why it is important to start asking harder questions now. At what age should children begin using large language models? Should a 10‑year‑old rely on AI to write essays, or is that a stage when their brain needs to wrestle with ideas and grow stronger? What happens to a generation if that vital stage of struggle and growth is skipped?

These are not questions we can leave for later. Families, educators, and policymakers need to think about them now, because the answers will decide whether AI becomes a tool that makes our minds sharper or the very reason they never reach their full potential.