Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
MIT’s EEG scans revealed something eerie: ChatGPT users showed the weakest neural activity, especially in memory and creativity zones. It’s not just lazy writing—it’s neurological silence.
83% of ChatGPT users couldn’t recall a single line from their own essays minutes after writing. It’s not forgetfulness—it’s a failure to store the memory in the first place.
Researchers call it “cognitive debt”: the mental toll of outsourcing thought. Fast in the moment, blank in the aftermath. You may finish tasks—but lose the ability to think them through.
AI users’ essays looked eerily alike—safe, shallow, and sterile. Worse, users felt detached from their own words, like ghostwriters of their own ideas.
Even after ditching ChatGPT, users struggled to reengage creatively. Brain scans showed lingering under-activation, like a switch left in low-power mode.
ChatGPT users may type faster—but what they gain in speed, they lose in depth, originality, and memory retention. The boost is skin-deep.
People didn’t just write less creatively—they felt less proud, less connected, less “theirs.” When your thoughts come from a machine, who are you as a thinker?
Occasional use? Fine. But those who relied solely on ChatGPT developed a dangerous dependency that dulled their solo thinking muscles.
MIT warns of “cognitive bankruptcy”—a condition where users become mentally disengaged, reliant, and incapable of deep, independent work.