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𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 — 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻?
In an MIT Media Lab experiment, 54 participants were asked to write essays: using ChatGPT, using a search engine, or relying only on their own thinking. While they worked, researchers recorded brain activity with EEG to see how different regions were actually engaging with the task.
𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘎𝘗𝘛 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 — 𝘧𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨.
When people who had relied on ChatGPT were later asked to write without it, their brain engagement remained lower. They struggled more to recall or quote what they had just written. In contrast, participants who first worked independently and then used AI showed stronger memory and higher engagement. Sounds like it’s worth deliberately deciding when to use AI for speed — and when to work without it to maintain cognitive sharpness.
Here are 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 You can do 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗽 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜:
1. Don’t delegate everything: write, read, analyze on your own first even if it takes longer. Use AI to refine your thinking.
2. 𝗖𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁! Just like your body, brain needs regular exercise: solving problems, debating, memorizing poetry, learning languages, writing essays.
4. Bring back slower forms of thinking. Writing 𝗯𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 20–30 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝘆 deepens your focus and brings clarity to your thinking.
5. Creative practice! Work on something where you have to invent, not only assemble to 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲.
𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲.
David Brooks divides people into 3 groups: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 use AI to remove effort, 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗿𝘀 start selectively but gradually outsource more, 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 use AI to challenge their thinking — testing ideas, exposing gaps, strengthening their own reasoning. 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲.
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