AI – friend or foe?

Does AI help or hurt our thinking skills? Janet Parshall will share her thoughts on that question in this week’s commentary.

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Episode Transcript

S1 (00:02):
The AI function on Google defines AI as a simulation
of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think
and learn like humans. AI systems can perform tasks that
typically require human intelligence, often by analyzing data and recognizing patterns. Apparently,
I thinks it can think like a human.

S2 (00:19):
Here to unpack present day issues from a biblical perspective
is Janet Parshall.

S1 (00:25):
A study by researchers at MIT found that people who
relied on ChatGPT to write essays had lower brain activity
than those who used their brain alone, and performed worse
than brain only participants in a series of tests. Those
who used AI had a hard time performing their tasks
without the use of AI. According to the study, reliance
on AI systems can lead to a passive approach and

(00:47):
diminished activation of critical thinking skills when the person later
performs tasks alone. This raised questions for the researchers about
the long term educational implications of using AI in schools
and the workplace. What they concluded was that there appears
to be a growing body of evidence that when people
turn on AI, they turn their brains off. The MIT

(01:08):
study followed 54 people who were asked to write four essays.
The participants were divided into three groups. One of the
groups wrote essays with the help of ChatGPT. Another group
used the internet search engines to do their research, and
the third group just used their own brainpower. Researchers used
an EEG to record the writer's brain activity, and found
that of the three groups, ChatGPT users had the lowest

(01:30):
brain engagement consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.
Over the course of several months, ChatGPT users got lazier,
with each subsequent essay often resorting to copy and paste
by the end of the study. The paper's main author,
Natalia Kuzmina, felt it was important to release the findings
to raise concerns about society increasingly relying on programs like ChatGPT,

(01:54):
which provide convenience but at the cost of long term
brain development, she noted. What really motivated me to put
it out now, before waiting for a full peer review,
is that I'm afraid in 6 to 8 months there'll
be some policy maker who decides, let's do GPT kindergarten.
I think that would be absolutely bad and detrimental. Developing
brains are at the highest risks. Remember, Google defined AI

(02:17):
as a system that simulates and requires human intelligence. What
the MIT study shows is that if we aren't careful,
AI will become smarter than humans. The more we use
these programs, the dumber we humans are becoming. AI decouples
intelligence from consciousness. These machines don't think humans do. Are
we willing to give up the gift of critical thinking

(02:37):
to gain a few minutes of convenience? Romans 12 two
reminds us that conforming to this world is wrong. Rather,
we're instructed to be transformed through the renewing of our mind.
I can't do that transformation. Only God can. Those are
my thoughts. I'm Janet Parshall.

S2 (02:52):
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In the market with Janet Parshall.