Many of us have turned to using ChatGPT or other artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to complete assignments or help with difficult tasks. It’s tempting; you just put in a prompt, and within seconds, the chatbot provides you with a typically accurate answer. However, there are some flaws, such as hallucination of facts or providing misinformation; the ease of simply turning to a chatbot is dangerous.

We are letting the chatbots do the thinking for us; this is harming our cognitive abilities and creating a potentially dangerous relationship with technology. A recent study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, entitled “Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task,” has found that utilizing ChatGPT results in weakened neural pathways for both memory of and ownership over their writing. Additionally, they found that increased reliance on AI can result in a concept called cognitive debt, wherein an individual’s cognitive skills involved in critical thinking, memory, and creativity are dulled. Students across the U.S have increasingly begun to rely on AI chatbots to write essays or do their assignments. A study published by College Board found that between January and May 2025, the percentage of high school students who reported using generative AI for schoolwork jumped from 79% to 84%.

AI chatbots can possess some benefits, like personalized learning and immediate feedback, but in the end, their usage greatly undermines one’s capacity to learn. This will almost definitely result in students lacking the cognitive skills to properly understand course material, and in turn lower test scores. This can be seen in a study conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, which found that Turkish high school students who were given ChatGPT to complete math problems performed worse on a math test compared to those who didn’t have access to ChatGPT. Although students with access to ChatGPT solved 48% more problems correctly, overall, they scored 17% worse. Students who use chatbots as a crutch do not build the skills necessary to understand how to solve problems themselves. 

Part 2 coming soon including a survey from the nest and feedback from real Albany High students and faculty!