Could AI make your brain lazy?

GPSgps: Global Positioning System; a satellite-based system used to find the exact location of a place or person — 全球定位系统 made our sense of direction worse. Search engines made our memory weaker. Now scientists worry that AI tools, like ChatGPT, could do the same to skills like creativitycreativity: The use of imagination or original ideas to create something. — 创造力；创意, focus, and criticalcritical: Expressing disapproval; extremely important or serious; involving careful judgement. — 批判的；关键的；危急的 thinkingcritical thinking: thinking carefully about information to decide if it is true or useful — 批判性思维. A few years ago, I started using AI every day, because I write about it. Recently, new studiesstudies: Mental effort to acquire knowledge or learning — 学业 have made me worried. Could I be making my own brain lazy?

"On a high level, yes," says Adam Green, a brain scientist at Georgetown University. "If you are not doing the thinking, your ability to do that thinking will get weaker." Other researchers worry that students who use AI too much lose the cognitivecognitive: Relating to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgement, and reasoning — 认知的；与认知过程有关的 frictionfriction: The rubbing of one object or surface against another — 摩擦cognitive friction: the mental effort that comes from thinking hard, which the brain needs to stay sharp — 认知阻力 that keeps the mind sharpsharp: having a thin edge or point that can cut or make a hole — 锋利的；尖锐的. The science is brandbrand: A type of product made by a particular company, identified by a name or symbol. — 品牌；牌子 new, so we do not have all the answers yet.

Not everyone agrees there is a real danger. Twenty years ago, some scientists said heavy technology use might cause something called digital dementiadementia: a serious medical condition affecting the brain that causes a gradual loss of memory and thinking ability — 痴呆；失智digital dementia: the disputed idea that heavy technology use causes long-term memory loss — 数字痴呆. Jared Benge, a brain doctor at Dell Medical School, recently looked at 57 studies covering more than 411,000 adults. He foundfound: To establish an institution or organisation, especially by providing money. — 创立；创办 no clear evidence for it. In fact, technology use may eveneven: Exactly, just, fully — 正好 lowerlower: To move something to a less high position; to reduce in amount or degree. — 降低；减少 the riskrisk: A possible adverse event or outcome — 风险 of memory problems.

Even so, smaller studies show some real effects. People who use GPS stop building maps in their head and remember less about where they have been. People also remember less of what they read online, because looking it up is so easy. AI may be the most powerfulpowerful: Having a lot of strength, influence, or control. — 强大的；有力的 versionversion: a form of something that is different from other forms — 版本；说法 of this kind of tool yet. "It is like you are at the gym and a robotrobot: A machine that can move and do tasks automatically. — 机器人 lifts the barbellbarbell: a long metal bar with weights on each end, used for weightlifting — 杠铃 for you," Green says. "You get nothing."

Don't trusttrust: To place confidence in; to rely on, to confide, or have faith, in — 信任；信赖 AI without thinking. Heavy AI users often score worse on critical thinking tests, because they let the robot do the workwork: [General Physics] The product of force and distance moved in the direction of force — 功. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania call this cognitive surrendercognitive surrender: trusting AI over your own thinking, even when AI is wrong — 认知投降: trustingtrust: To place confidence in; to rely on, to confide, or have faith, in — 信任；信赖 AI more than your own thinking, even when AI is wrong. The risk is biggest when you do not know much about the subject. So before you open a chatbotchatbot: a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the internet — 聊天机器人, try to form your own simple answer first. Then ask AI to challenge it.

Add some difficultydifficulty: A problem or something that is hard to deal with. — 困难；难题 to your research. "If something is in front of you and you can see it, you often think it is in your memory when it is not," says Barbara Oakley, a teacher at the University of Oakland. So slow down. Take notes by hand. Ask the chatbot to quizquiz: To hoax; to chaff or mock with pretended seriousness of discourse; to make sport of, as by obscure questions — 戏弄盘问 you. The small efforteffort: The physical or mental energy that you need to do something. — 努力；精力 helps you remember.

Leave the blank page blank a little longerlong: Lasting for a great amount of time — 长久的. AI is good at coming up with ideas, but research suggests its ideas can be more predictablepredictable: Able to be foreseen or expected; behaving in a way that is easy to anticipate. — 可预测的；意料之中的 and less original. Your own brain makes connectionsconnection: A relationship between things or people, or a link between transport services. — 联系；关系；连接；转乘 by reaching across your memories and experiences. So write your roughrough: Having an uneven surface; not smooth, or not gentle. — 粗糙的；崎岖的 notes first, before opening a chatbot. Then use AI to develop, refinerefine: To reduce to a pure state; to free from impurities — 提炼；精炼, or test what you have already writtenwritten: expressed in writing rather than speech — 书面的；写成的.

Pay attention. Technology, including AI, can make focus harder. Do things the slow way on purpose. Sit with a hard problem for a few minutes before asking a robot for help. You can still keep your brain in control. Green says human brains make connections that are personal, surprising, and trulytruly: In a truthful way; genuinely; to the fullest degree. — 真正地；确实地 new, in ways that AI simplysimply: in an easy or plain way; just; only — 简单地；仅仅 cannot copy. The wish to think and create for ourselves, it seems, is harder than ever to give away.