Emerging research suggests that the more you use AI, the more it may negatively affect your critical thinking skills. But it depends on the tasks you use it for and how you use it.
Since November 2022, when the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT was rolled out, AI has increasingly been touching many lives.
The introduction of chatbots like ChatGPT and other AI tools, such as Google’s AI Overview, has changed how we surf the web and use it to find answers to our most pressing questions.
Researchers are therefore diving into AI’s effect on our brains. Early findings reveal an interesting potential link.
Media scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently released a draft of a paper titled “Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task.”
The study involved 54 American adults between the ages of 18 and 39. Participants were tasked with writing four essays over 4 months using either
- ChatGPT
- a search engine, like Google or Yahoo!
- their brain (no search or AI tools)
For the first three essays, electrical connectivity in the brains of the ChatGPT group was lower than in the other two groups. It was also lower in the search engine group than the brain-only group.
The final essay involved switching groups. The brain-only group could use ChatGPT, and the ChatGPT group could only use their brain. Note: Only 18 participants completed the fourth essay.
The group that switched from using ChatGPT to their brain demonstrated:
- much lower electrical connectivity in their brains than the brain-only group’s third session
- decreased perception of ownership of the writing
- lower recall of quotes from the essay they had written
Though this paper presents interesting findings, it was a very small and preliminary study in a new and developing area of research. Conclusions may change with larger studies. It has not yet been peer reviewed by a reputable journal.
The MIT researchers aren’t the only ones who have investigated this phenomenon since AI tools have become more widespread.
A 2025 study on AI usage and critical thinking skills found that those who use it more, which their results indicate may more likely be people ages 17 to 25, may have reduced critical thinking abilities.
The author refers to this as “cognitive offloading,” defined as a reduced need for independent thinking due to the reliance on the automation of analytical tasks.
Another study from 2025 suggests that using AI may shift aspects of active critical thinking to more passive understanding in three ways:
- Recall and comprehension: From information gathering to information verification
- Application: From problem-solving to AI response integration
- Analysis, synthesis, and evaluation: From task execution to task stewardship
Altogether, according to a 2024 research review, increased dependency on AI tools to perform tasks that require deeper thinking may risk:
- reduced mental engagement
- neglect of cognitive skills, such as calculations or information retrieval
- declined memory capacity
- shortened attention spans and focus issues
- inability to apply knowledge to new situations
- ethical and social concerns, such as decreased human-to-human interaction and social isolation
- mental health challenges, such as reduced self-confidence
The answer isn’t simply “use AI less.”
It’s true that avoiding it for tasks that require deeper thinking when you can is a great first step, but it isn’t always possible.
As AI tools gain popularity, they may become woven into your work, and their use may be encouraged, or required, in some cases.
Instead, consider how you use AI. When used in certain ways, it can help foster deeper thinking, inspire creativity, and improve efficiency.
It may help to know the signs of a shift from active to passive critical thinking mentioned above. For example:
- Do you use AI to verify information for you instead of trying to find and understand your own sources?
- Do you use AI to put ideas into practice for you instead of trying to problem-solve?
- Do you use AI to contrast, relate, combine, or judge ideas instead of analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating them on your own?
Recognizing the switch from active to passive learning can help you determine whether your use of AI may be helping or hindering your understanding of material.
Emerging research indicates that overusing and relying on AI tools may profoundly affect our comprehension and critical thinking abilities.
However, the current evidence that supports this hypothesis can only explain an association, not causation, between a decrease in deeper thinking and heavier reliance on AI. This area of science is still new and developing.
On the other hand, AI isn’t always bad. You may find that it can inspire creativity or encourage learning when not used as a one-stop shop for answers or solutions.