Is AI Making Us Stupid?
12/18/202538 min
AI tools like ChatGPT have taken the world by storm, with tons of people saying they use them regularly. This is especially true for students, many of whom say they use AI to get their schoolwork done. And this is freaking some of us out — we're hearing that jumping on the AI train could be a terrible idea, partly because of claims that these tools could be bad for our brains. So — are we outsourcing too much of our thinking to the bots?? Will our brains turn to mush? Or can we use AI to boost our brainpower? To find out, we talk to Dr. Shiri Melumad, expert in the psychology of technology, and Dr. Aaron French, expert in information systems. Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsAIStupid In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Is AI ruining or boosting our brains? (02:45) How often are LLMs like ChatGPT wrong? (05:01) Do LLMs mess with our ability to learn? (19:26) Does using AI make us more productive? (24:33) Another example of a technology that freaked a bunch of people out (27:40) Can using AI help us learn? This episode was produced by Meryl Horn with help from Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, Michelle Dang, and Rose Rimler. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Our executive producer is Wendy Zukerman. Fact checking by Erica Akiko Howard. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Emma Munger, So Wylie, Peter Leonard, Bumi Hidaka and Bobby Lord. Thanks to all the researchers we spoke with including Daniela Fernandes, Dr. Marcin Romanczyk, Professor Michael Henderson, Dr. Tim Zindulka, and Professor Vitomir Kovanovicent. Special thanks also to Sebastian Peleato, Chris Suter, Elise, Dylan, Jack Weinstein and Hunter. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMeryl Horn· Host0:00
Hi. I'm Meryl Horn, filling in for Wendy Zuckerman. You're listening to Science Vs. (instrumental music plays) This is the show that pits facts against frying our brains with AI. Today on the show, is AI destroying our ability to think? A lot of people are saying, yeah, it is, and they say that we've got the science to prove it.
Speaker 10:26
It's been medically verified that ChatGPT makes people stupider.
Meryl Horn· Host0:29
ChatGPT users could not even remember what they wrote. They basically stopped thinking entirely.
Rose Rimler· Host0:35
Every single time we give it a prompt, our own brain cells are burning.
Meryl Horn· Host0:39
And if this is true, we might be in for a brain cell bonfire because a lot of us are using AI. One recent survey found that 62% of adults in the US say they interact with it at least several times a week, and AI really seems to be booming for students. A bunch of surveys suggest that around 80% of high schoolers and college students say they're using it for school work, and nobody's really worried about this. Obviously, I'm kidding. People are panicking.
Speaker 31:09
We have no idea how our students will ever learn anything or whether universities have any future.
Meryl Horn· Host1:14
One professor graded papers and discovered every single one was AI generated.
Speaker 11:19
The whole system is cooked. Cheating is the new major. Game over. It's just (beep) game over.
Meryl Horn· Host1:25
But there is a flip side here because some people say that AI is gonna be good