By Rohit Kumar Singh

The printing press democratised knowledge, the typewriter professionalised it, and the personal computer personalised it. Each technological leap in writing triggered anxiety—and ultimately, empowerment. But the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), particularly tools like ChatGPT, raises a more disquieting question: Are we now outsourcing not just the act of writing, but the very act of thinking?

In India’s rapidly digitising educational landscape, where edtech and AI are touted as panaceas, this question acquires added urgency. As AI tools gain traction in classrooms and workplaces, a growing body of research warns of the hidden cognitive costs of relying too heavily on them.

MIT’s study: Less writing, less thinking

A recent study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, led by Nataliya Kosmyna, offers scientific evidence to growing unease. Fifty-four university students were asked to write essays in three conditions—unaided, using a search engine, and with ChatGPT—while wearing electroencephalogram (EEG) headsets to monitor brain activity. The results were stark. Students using ChatGPT showed markedly lower brain connectivity, reduced focus, and diminished executive control. Their essays were labelled “generic” and “soulless” by evaluators, and many could not recall or even recognise their own work later. In contrast, unaided writers exhibited higher cognitive engagement, stronger memory retention,........

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