Brain Drain New research has found a worrying link to memory loss and tanking grades in students who relied on ChatGPT, in an early but fascinating exploration of the swift impact that large language models have had in education. As detailed in a new study published in the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, the researchers surveyed hundreds of university students — ranging from undergrads to doctoral candidates — over two phases, using self-reported evaluations. They were spurred on by witnessing more and more of their own students turn to ChatGPT. “My interest in this topic stemmed from the growing prevalence of generative artificial intelligence in academia and its potential impact on students,” study co-author Muhammad Abhas at the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences in Pakistan told PsyPost. “For the last year, I observed an increasing, uncritical, reliance on generative AI tools among my students for various assignments and projects I assigned.” Show of Hands In the first phase, the researchers collected responses from 165 students who used an eight-item scale to report their degree of ChatGPT reliance. The items ranged from “I use ChatGPT for my course assignments” to “ChatGPT is part of my campus life.” To validate those results, they also conducted a more rigorous “time-lagged” second phase, in which they expanded their scope to nearly 500 students, who were surveyed three times at one to two week intervals. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the researchers found that students under a heavy academic workload and “time pressure” were…ChatGPT Use Linked to Memory Loss, Procrastination in Students