The MIT Study on AI and Human Brains: Why Writers Have to Care

The study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on the effect of artificial intelligence (AI) on brain activity stirs waters—and writers should care about it. 

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AI may have some massive benefits on productivity by automation, but it also threatens the very existence of mankind. Not that bots are taking over the planet, but they might be slowly taking dominance over the most intelligent species on earth—humans. 

It’s not some wild imagination. Nor is it some apocalyptic doomsday prophecy. In fact, the recent study by MIT backs this up. And the results are sobering.

For starters, the MIT researchers recruited 54 participants to probe their study, “Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt When Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task.” These participants were studied for four months and grouped into three: those who used online browsers, those who only relied on OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and those who didn't use any outside tools. 

Those who heavily relied on ChatGPT when writing essays yielded lower brain activity—affecting reasoning, memory, and linguistic skill. More so, the English teachers who judged their “pieces” found that their “writings” were less original. They also couldn’t recall and quote what they “wrote” about—even a minute after “writing”—an evidence that they took less ownership of their work.

“When students rely on AI to produce lengthy or complex essays, they may bypass the process of synthesizing information from memory, which can hinder their understanding and retention of the material. For instance, while ChatGPT significantly improved short-term task performance, such as essay scores, it did not lead to significant differences in knowledge gain or transfer,” the study highlighted. 

For the most part, writers and other creatives have to care about these findings because they provoke attention and call for careful deliberation of the things that we do with technology. 

We get that—times are changing and technology, including AI, is taking the world by storm. While we don’t have the choice but to adapt with pivots, we do have the vote to reclaim our innate intelligence and not outsource our entirety as rational beings. While we can ride with advancements, we can’t let our discernment erode with the flow toward our destruction. 

We owe it to ourselves the joy of creation, even in the form of writing and building a better world through words. The struggles are a part of the journey in writing, and while we can’t be as fast as AI to generate crafted pieces, we are still superior, and yes, the most intelligent machines on earth—and with souls at that. 

AI may assist, but it’s just that—it should only assist to some degree. The thing is, if you constantly rely on AI, you're depriving yourself of the opportunity to grow as a writer and as a person. As the article “Storytelling Without a Soul: The Real Cost of AI-Generated Books” stressed, “when you skip the struggle, you lose the growth.” You owe it to yourself the pleasure to see how you’re developing as a creative. 

Use technology with discernment and know when you’re already surrendering your creative birthright. Don’t bow at the altar of AI's convenience by neglecting your authentic intelligence. That's not being smart. That's being a sluggard. We are still called to do—and really DO.

Embrace your human identity. Think with your mind—it is gracefully empowered.

Don't let AI tools take over your intelligence. Reclaim your identity as a writer. Sign up at themanuscripteditor.com, and book your manuscript for editing today!

Sources: 

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.08872v1