FAQ for "Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task"

Is it safe to say that LLMs are, in essence, making us "dumber"?

No! Please do not use the words like “stupid”, “dumb”, “brain rot”, "harm", "damage", "passivity", "trimming" and so on. It does a huge disservice to this work, as we did not use this vocabulary in the paper, especially if you are a journalist reporting on it.

Do you have a peer review timeline for this project?

We decided to release preprint now to collect a wider feedback faster as the topic is pressing and the speed of development and integration of LLMs in everyday lives is unmatched and not something we have truly seen before. Peer review process has been already started, but we are in the very beginning of this process, and it will probably take months. As you might know/have heard/read - peer reviews take usually a long period of time, anytime between 4 months and up two years.

Are you planning any additional studies in the near future?

Yes, the next one is about the "vibe coding". We have already collected the data and are currently working on the analysis and draft. It adds to why it is important to get general public's feedback now.

Anything else to add that you feel is relevant to a story about this project?

Lots of media and people used LLMs to summarize the paper. It adds to the noise. Your HUMAN feedback is very welcome, if you read the paper or parts of it. Also, as a reminder, the study has a list of limitations we list very clearly both in the paper and on the webpage. And to the best of our knowledge, it is one of the first protocols, thus we do expect more papers/studies (from ourselves and other researchers!) with different protocols, populations, tasks, methodologies, that will add to the general understanding of the use of this technology in different aspects of our lives.

Additional vocabulary to avoid using when talking about the paper

In addition to the vocabulary from Question 1 in this FAQ - please avoid using "brain scans", "LLMs make you stop thinking", "impact negatively", "brain damage", "terrifying findings".

Was this study funded?

No, no funding to report for this study or the next one. We will add this line to the final paper draft!

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