Is AI Making Us Dumber? How ChatGPT and AI Tools Affect Your Brain, Memory and Critical Thinking

Need an email written? Ask AI. Need a recipe for what's in your fridge? Ask AI. Need to understand a confusing letter from your insurance company, plan a trip, summarize a long report or settle a trivia argument at dinner? Ask AI.

Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot have moved into everyday life with amazing speed, and they can be genuinely, wonderfully helpful. But a big question is bubbling up among scientists, teachers and parents: if we hand over more and more of our thinking to AI, what happens to our own thinking skills?

It's one of the most talked-about brain health topics of 2026. Let's look at what the early research says, why "use it or lose it" matters, and how to get all the benefits of AI without letting your brain go soft.

What is cognitive offloading?

Cognitive offloading means using tools or the world around you to reduce mental effort. Writing a shopping list, setting a phone reminder, using a calculator and using GPS are all forms of it.

Offloading isn't bad. It frees up mental space for other things, and humans have done it since we first wrote things down. The question is what happens when we offload thinking itself: reasoning, writing, problem-solving and judgment.

Lessons from earlier technology

The "Google effect"

In a 2011 study published in Science, psychologist Betsy Sparrow and colleagues found that when people expected to be able to look information up later, they were less likely to remember the information itself, though better at remembering where to find it. Researchers nicknamed this the "Google effect" or digital amnesia.

GPS and your sense of direction

A 2020 study by Louisa Dahmani and Véronique Bohbot at McGill University found that people who used GPS more had worse spatial memory, and that heavier GPS use over three years was linked with a steeper decline in spatial memory. The researchers argued this was likely because people stopped actively building mental maps. Remember the London taxi drivers whose brains grew from learning the city's streets? GPS is the opposite of that. See neuroplasticity explained.

The pattern is clear: skills we stop practicing tend to weaken.

What research says about AI and the brain

AI research is very new, and most studies are small. But early findings are worth paying attention to.

The MIT "Your Brain on ChatGPT" study

In 2025, researchers at the MIT Media Lab, led by Nataliya Kosmyna, published a widely discussed study. They asked 54 adults to write essays over several sessions using either ChatGPT, a search engine or nothing but their own brains, while measuring their brain activity with EEG.

• The "brain-only" group showed the strongest and widest brain connectivity.
• The ChatGPT group showed the weakest engagement.
• People who used ChatGPT had more trouble remembering or quoting what they'd written, and felt less ownership of their essays.
• When ChatGPT users later had to write without it, they showed less brain engagement than those who'd been writing on their own.

It's a small, early study that hadn't yet been peer-reviewed when it was released, so it's not the final word. But it raised a big, sensible question about what happens when we let AI do the hard part.

AI and critical thinking at work

Also in 2025, researchers from Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon University surveyed 319 knowledge workers about how they used generative AI at work. They found that people who had more confidence in AI tended to do less critical thinking about its output, while people with more confidence in their own abilities thought more critically. Many workers said they shifted from doing tasks themselves to checking and editing AI's work.

AI and learning in schools

The picture for students is mixed, and how AI is used makes all the difference:

• A 2024 study in Turkish high schools, led by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, found that students who had unrestricted access to a GPT-4 chatbot did much better on practice math problems. But when the AI was taken away, they did worse on exams than students who never had it. They'd leaned on it as a crutch. A version designed as a tutor, giving hints rather than answers, largely avoided that problem.
• A 2025 study at Harvard found that students using a carefully designed AI physics tutor, built to guide them step by step rather than hand over answers, learned more in less time than students in an active-learning class.

The lesson: AI as a tutor that makes you think can help. AI as an answer machine can hurt learning.

Why "productive struggle" matters

Learning researchers talk about desirable difficulties: the effortful work of recalling, figuring out and wrestling with problems is exactly what builds lasting knowledge and skills. When AI removes all the struggle, it can also remove the learning. Our guide to how to remember what you learn explains this in detail.

Writing is a good example. Writing isn't just a way to record thoughts. It's a way to have them. Working out how to explain something forces you to understand it. Handing that over entirely means missing out on the thinking.

The benefits of AI for your brain

This isn't a "ban AI" article. Used well, AI can genuinely support intellectual wellness:

• Explaining hard ideas in simpler terms, at your own pace
• Personalized tutoring and practice questions
• Language practice through conversation (see learning a language as an adult)
• Brainstorming to get past a blank page
• Accessibility for people with dyslexia, ADHD, vision loss or other disabilities
• Freeing up time from tedious tasks for more meaningful work
• Feeding curiosity: asking endless "why" questions about the world

How to use AI without losing your thinking skills

1. Think first, then ask

Try writing your own first draft, outline or answer before asking AI. Then compare. You'll learn more and catch AI's mistakes.

2. Ask for explanations, not just answers

"Explain how to solve this" or "give me a hint" builds skills. "Just give me the answer" doesn't.

3. Use AI as a tutor

Ask it to quiz you, check your reasoning, or play devil's advocate against your argument.

4. Always fact-check

AI tools can confidently state things that are wrong, known as "hallucinations." Check important facts, especially for health, legal and financial questions, against trusted sources.

5. Keep some skills AI-free

Pick a few things you deliberately do yourself: writing personal messages, mental math, navigating familiar routes, planning your week. Use it or lose it.

6. Edit actively

If you use AI-generated text, rewrite it in your own words. That keeps you engaged and makes the result sound like you.

7. Protect deep thinking time

Spend some time every day thinking without any tools: walking, journaling, reading, talking ideas over with a friend.

8. Notice how you feel

If you feel less confident doing things without AI, that's a sign to practice those skills more.

AI, kids and teens

Children and teens are still building foundational skills in reading, writing, math and reasoning, so how they use AI matters even more. Many educators suggest using AI as a study buddy that asks questions and gives hints, keeping important writing and problem-solving AI-free, and talking openly as a family about honesty and when AI is and isn't appropriate.

AI and your job

Workplaces are changing fast. The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 estimates that workers can expect about 39% of their core skills to change by 2030. Skills like critical thinking, creativity, curiosity and lifelong learning are rising in importance, precisely because they're harder to automate. Our guide to future-proofing your career in the age of AI has practical steps.

Frequently asked questions about AI and the brain

Does using ChatGPT make you less intelligent?

There's no evidence it lowers intelligence. Early research suggests relying on it heavily for tasks like writing may reduce how much you engage and remember, so balance is key.

Is it okay to use AI for homework?

It depends on the rules and how you use it. Using AI to understand concepts or check work can help. Using it to do the work for you usually hurts learning.

What skills should I keep practicing without AI?

Writing in your own words, mental math, reading long texts, navigating, problem-solving and face-to-face conversation are good ones to keep strong.

Should I tell people when I use AI?

It's often good practice, especially at work or school. Many organizations now have AI policies, so check yours.

Can AI help prevent cognitive decline?

There's no evidence yet. Learning new things, staying social, exercising and sleeping well remain the best-supported ways to keep your brain healthy.

Your mind is one of your greatest assets. See how your intellectual wellness compares with the other seven dimensions in our free wellness wheel quiz.