Are AI prompts dulling your critical thinking?

As generative AI spreads across classrooms and offices, new research is rekindling concerns about skill atrophy. An MIT study using EEG found reduced brain activity in regions linked to cognitive processing when students used ChatGPT to draft essays, and those users struggled more to recall their own material. A separate Carnegie Mellon–Microsoft survey of 319 white-collar workers reviewing 900 AI-assisted tasks reported that confidence in AI correlated with lower critical-thinking effort, raising the risk of overreliance. Schools are seeing a mixed picture: an Oxford University Press survey of U.K. students found 60% believe AI has hurt some skills, even as 90% say it improved at least one. Scholars warn of “cognitive atrophy,” citing evidence from medicine that AI tools can lift some clinicians’ performance while diminishing others’. OpenAI says students shouldn’t outsource work to ChatGPT and is promoting tutor-style use and study prompts; Oxford University now offers campus access. The debate underscores a trade-off: AI can boost productivity and grades, but without guardrails and verification, it may erode independent reasoning.

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