While critics of artificial intelligence warn that its long-term effects on the human brain are still unknown, being a relatively new technology, a new study shows that artificial intelligence may be dangerous even in the short term, as just ten minutes of its use leads to impaired brain performance, as Judd Kramer wrote(*).
Study from 4 universities
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, Oxford University, MIT, and UCLA conducted a study challenging participants to solve a series of fractional math problems. While half the group was asked to solve the problems independently, the other half was given access to an AI assistant running the GPT-5 model. However, this assistant was abruptly deactivated without warning during the final three problems of the test.
Higher AI-powered solution rate
Although the percentage of participants who were tested with the help of artificial intelligence was higher than the control group for most of the trial period, this percentage dropped sharply once the artificial intelligence was removed.
AI assistant stopped
However, when the two groups worked independently, the percentage of questions solved by the group that underwent testing with the help of artificial intelligence decreased by about 20 percent compared to the control group.
In addition, a significant increase in the question skipping rate was observed in the AI-assisted testing group after the AI was removed, as they resorted to abandoning questions… twice as many times as the control group.
Artificial intelligence hinders skills
Furthermore, participants were only given access to their AI assistants for approximately ten minutes, suggesting that reliance on AI, even for such a short period, may have hindered individuals' ability to rely on their own problem-solving skills.
The researchers also conducted a follow-up experiment using the same format to test reading comprehension skills, but instead of mathematical skills. The results were largely identical, except that access to artificial intelligence did not give the AI-assisted group any advantage in the first part of the test.
How you use artificial intelligence matters
Although relying on and then losing artificial intelligence led to a general decrease in problem-solving rates, there was variation among the experimental groups in the study, depending on how they used AI assistants.
Directly requesting solutions… lowering skill levels
Those who asked the AI for direct solutions experienced the greatest decrease in their solution rate and the greatest increase in their skipping rate (after disabling the AI assistant). The majority of study participants fell into this group, with 61 percent reporting that they had asked the AI for direct answers to test questions.
He asked for hints for solutions… He didn't lower his skills.
Those who only asked the AI for hints or clarifications did not experience the same drop in the solution rate, but remained on par with the control group.
This suggests that not all forms of AI use are detrimental to cognitive abilities. Rather, it is complete reliance on AI assistance that weakens human problem-solving skills.
Previous studies on cognitive decline
The results of this study are consistent with previous research that has linked the use of artificial intelligence to cognitive decline.
A study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to measure brain activity during essay writing showed that writers who work independently have significantly higher brain connectivity than writers who use massive language models and who performed worse neurologically, linguistically, and behaviorally during the four-month trial period.
Other studies conducted on workers in fields such as cognitive work and medicine have also indicated that those who relied on artificial intelligence to accomplish tasks became less able to accomplish them themselves without the help of artificial intelligence.
In concluding their study, the authors wrote that their findings “raise urgent questions about the cumulative effects of everyday use of artificial intelligence on human perseverance and the ability to think logically.”
* Fast Company magazine
They added: “We warn that if these effects accumulate with the continued use of artificial intelligence, current AI systems – designed only to provide short-term assistance – threaten to undermine the human capabilities they were designed to support.”