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Posted on 08/21/2026 5:48:31 PM PDT by DoodleBob
….Ted Chiang, in the article titled "Why A.I. isn't going to make art," noted that "Using ChatGPT to complete assignments is like bringing a forklift into the weight room; you will never improve your cognitive fitness that way."
And at least two recent research studies seem to confirm Chiang's point.
The first study—published in a peer reviewed journal—is titled "ChatGPT as a cognitive crutch." The author Andre Barcaui conducted a randomized controlled trial of ChatGPT's impact on knowledge retention among undergraduate students. Participants were randomly assigned to an AI assisted study group and a traditional study group and knowledge retention was assessed by a surprise test 45 days after learning. From the abstract: "Students who used ChatGPT scored significantly lower on the retention test (57.5 % correct) compared to those who studied traditionally (68.5 % correct), t (83) = −3.19, p = .002, Cohen's d = 0.68. This suggests that unrestricted ChatGPT use impaired long-term retention, likely by reducing the cognitive effort that supports durable memory."
The second study—currently a working paper—is titled "The generative AI learning penalty." The authors David Stromberg, Victor Lei, and Yanhui Wu write in their abstract: "Using 30 months of panel data on 26,811 Chinese students in grades 7-12, we study how generative AI affects homework productivity and learning. The data combine monthly closed-book exams, high-school and college entrance exams, and homework scores and completion time across nine subjects. We exploit staggered AI adoption in a difference-in-differences design. AI adoption raises homework scores by 18% and reduces completion time by 30%, but lowers monthly exam scores by 20% within six months. High-stakes entrance-exam scores fall by 18 and 24%, with the full penalty emerging only after about two years. The losses are largest in social science subjects, followed by STEM and languages…
(Excerpt) Read more at tech.yahoo.com ...
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Ya think?
Cell phones are worse.
“AI adoption raises homework scores by 18% and reduces completion time by 30%, but lowers monthly exam scores by 20% within six months”
No kidding. Except those kids aren’t trying very hard if their homework completion time only went down by 30%. I expected 90%.
What is clearly needed is more AI to write better prompts.
Some people might say that this is intuitively obvious by inspection.
Others might say:
NO CHIT!
Add that to this: “ Dr. Marks’ research shows that on average, the length of time people stay on a single computer screen before switching to another has decreased from 2.5 minutes to 47 seconds over the past two decades.”
https://brainmindsociety.org/posts/are-attention-spans-actually-decreasing
The answer is yes.
Grok sez I r smart!
i.e., junk science.
Just like using spell checkers and calculators and google map, etc.
Well, duu-uhhh.
It’s asking something to think for you, instead of thinking it through yourself.
Learn the lesson. Mom was correct.
Im already sick of AI.
About 2 days ago the Merrill Lynch customer website rolled out a new format, the old one was about 30 years old. In the new format, on your account activity report, there are about 6 columns, including a column 40 characters wide for a 9 digit account number. You cannot decrease the width of the columns or remove a column. The screen width is about 15 characters less than what is necessary to see all the 6 items of data at the same time. You cannot see the date on the left and the payment/deposit amount on the right at the same time, you have to use the scrollbar to see the date, and then scroll to the right to see the amount, despite most of the screen being useless blank space. This was obviously created by AI. No human would ever release a software upgrade which replaces an easily legible format with one that is more difficult to see and interpret. No human was involved in testing or evaluating this upgrade, the AI just rolled it out and the clients all have to suffer. Your phone does this once a week. The timer app on the iphone keeps a list of all the other timers you have ever set. So if i want to set a timer to take the meat out of the oven in 9 minutes, I have to look at a list of all the other times I decided to time something, as though this could ever possibly be useful!!!! developers add as many features as possible, and the proliferation of features interferes with the core function of the software. They get paid per feature I guess. Yesterday Apple carplay told me the “foursquare rating” of a train station, WTF is this supposed to mean?? I don’t give a S**t about the foursquare rating of a train station, I want to catch the train. and on and on ...........
Only if you use it to think for you.
Technology overall reduces mental fitness. That started long before AI reared its head.
With computers and cell phones, you don’t have to remember things as much as you did before. And you don’t have to “do the math” for everyday problems like you did before.
“Mom, how do I spell [fill in the blank]?”
“Look it up in the dictionary.”
“How can I look it up, if I don’t know how to spell it?”
“You’ll figure it out”
...those days are gone
and so does having disposable stuff
we used to fix things, take apart, rebuild, problem solve
“Using A.I. Might Reduce Your Mental Fitness”. I thought the worst thing AI ever did was make up something called the WNBA.
As my memory declines, it is easier and quicker to GROK a question and receive an answer in seconds. My memory would eventually find the answer, but GROKing is quicker
AI in GROK form adds to my aging capabilities
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