Experts warn of the phenomenon of 'cognitive atrophy,' where a person's abilities decline due to reliance on artificial intelligence, noting that getting better results with AI's help doesn't necessarily mean 'better learning.' They highlight a study on radiologists by Harvard University, which showed that AI assistance improved the performance of some doctors while harming others, calling for a deeper understanding of how humans interact with these technologies.
Experts emphasize the need for clear guidelines and critical instructions on the responsible use of AI, balancing its immense potential for improving efficiency with the preservation of essential human skills and independent critical thinking. Meanwhile, a survey revealed that nine out of ten students acknowledged that it helped them develop at least one skill, creating a complex picture of its impact.
The companies developing these tools recognize these concerns. Gina Devine from OpenAI, owner of ChatGPT, stated that the tool should be used as a 'private tutor' to stimulate understanding, not just as a means to get ready-made answers, warning that 'students shouldn't use it to outsource their work.'
Conversely, experts like Professor Wayne Holmes from University College London call for more independent academic research on the impact of these tools before their widespread adoption in education.
These findings come as these technologies are becoming widespread in educational and professional fields. A study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that those who used ChatGPT to write essays showed less activity in brain networks related to cognitive processing while performing tasks and had greater difficulty remembering and retrieving the content compared to those who wrote it themselves. The study, which recorded participants' brain activity using EEG, highlighted what researchers described as a 'potential for declining learning skills.'
A separate study by Carnegie Mellon University in collaboration with Microsoft indicated that excessive reliance on AI tools in the workplace can lead to a decline in problem-solving skills. It found that a higher level of trust in the tool's capabilities is linked to a lower level of critical thinking among employees, which could result in 'long-term over-reliance.'
In an educational context, a survey by Oxford University Press found that six out of ten students in the UK feel that artificial intelligence has negatively impacted their academic skills. Recent research shows that the increasing use of generative AI tools, such as chatbots, may have negative effects on human cognitive skills, such as critical thinking and problem-solving.
