Nick PerryFounder and CEO of 7 Figure Cartel

MIT Scanned Brains of ChatGPT Users — The Results Are Alarming

15 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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In this video, Nick Perry summarizes a recent MIT study that used EEG brain scans to monitor 54 participants over four months while they wrote essays under three conditions: using ChatGPT, using search engines, or writing unaided. The study found that unaided writers exhibited the strongest brain connectivity, whereas ChatGPT users showed the weakest neural engagement, a phenomenon the researchers labeled "cognitive debt"—the reduction of active thinking when a tool does the work for you. Notably, 83% of the ChatGPT group could not quote a single sentence from their own essays. Perry concludes with a cautionary recommendation: employ AI to challenge, not replace, one's own thinking.

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MIT researchers ran the first brain scan study of people using ChatGPT to write essays, and the results were shocking. They followed 54 people, split into 3 groups, for 4 months. One group used ChatGPT, another used search engines, and the last group wrote the essays entirely on their own. All their brains were monitored using EEG scans, and here's what they found: people writing without AI showed the strongest brain connectivity, while ChatGPT users showed the weakest neural engagement. It was so bad that 83% of them couldn't even quote a single sentence from their essays. They called this effect cognitive debt. It's when a tool does the thinking for you, so your brain practices thinking less. So if you're using AI, make sure to use it to challenge your thinking, not replace it.