StarTalk Radio Your Brain on ChatGPT with Nataliya Kosmyna
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Sep 19, 2025 Nataliya Kosmyna, a research scientist at MIT Media Lab, explores how AI tools like ChatGPT influence our brains. She shares intriguing findings from an essay study that show differences in cognitive load and brain activity when using AI. The discussion touches on concerns about the impact of LLMs on learning, including perceived declines in diagnostic accuracy and creative limits of AI-generated content. Nataliya emphasizes the need for responsible AI policies and safeguards to protect vulnerable users as technology evolves.
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Keep Cognitive Load Productive
- Preserve productive cognitive load: learners need manageable struggle to encode knowledge into long-term memory.
- Avoid delivering answers on a platter or you risk shallow learning and poor recall.
Tool Dependence Can Erode Expertise
- LLM use can degrade specialist skills when relied on by practitioners, as early reports show drops in medical recognition tasks.
- Continuous tool dependence may hollow out domain expertise over months.
Use LLMs As Augmentation, Not Replacement
- Don't assume LLMs free up usable cognitive capacity without evidence; monitor what skills are displaced.
- Use LLMs as augmentation only after establishing core knowledge and active monitoring.