Are we getting dumber because of AI? 🤖

In this episode of Promptly Speaking, hosts Sara and Dan Roberts explore how generative AI tools like ChatGPT are reshaping our brains — from creativity and focus to intrinsic motivation. Drawing on new research from MIT, Science Advances, and Harvard Business Review, they unpack what happens when machines start doing too much of the thinking for us.

The conversation dives into the MIT study showing that AI-assisted writers had the lowest brain engagement, discusses how AI can raise creative output but lower originality, and explores the trade-offs between productivity and satisfaction. Sara and Dan reflect on their own experiences and share practical ways to keep your mind sharp in an AI-driven world.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:28 – Personal experiences with AI in daily life

05:27 – MIT study: how ChatGPT lowers brain engagement

10:51 – Can AI make us more creative—or just more average?

14:53 – The “Google Effect” and how memory changes with technology

16:00 – The productivity paradox: getting more done but caring less

19:08 – Intrinsic motivation and AI fatigue

24:46 – Balancing AI assistance with human intuition

26:32 – Final reflections and takeaways

Follow Sara & Dan:

Sara: linkedin.com/in/saralynneroberts/

Dan: linkedin.com/in/danroberts27

Email: ⁠hello@promptlyspeakingpod.com⁠

📚 References & Further Reading

1. Sparrow, Liu & Wegner (2011) — Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips. Science.

https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/dwegner/files/sparrow_et_al._2011.pdf

2. MIT Media Lab (2024) — EEG study on neural engagement during essay writing with ChatGPT and Google (reported by Time).

https://time.com/7295195/ai-chatgpt-google-learning-school/

3. Doshi & Hauser (2024) — Generative AI Enhances Individual Creativity but Reduces Collective Diversity. Science Advances.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adn5290

4. Harvard Business Review (2025) — GenAI Makes People More Productive—and Less Motivated.

https://hbr.org/2025/05/research-gen-ai-makes-people-more-productive-and-less-motivated

5. Science (2023) — Experimental Evidence on the Productivity Effects of Generative AI.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh2586

6. Nature Scientific Reports (2025) — Cognitive Offloading in AI-Assisted Work: Impacts on Engagement and Attention.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-98385-2

7. arXiv preprint (2025) — Large Language Models and the Human Mind.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.08872v1

8. arXiv preprint (2023) — Programming with ChatGPT: Impacts on Developer Speed and Code...