Cognitive Decline or Convenient Design? What the MIT Study Overlooks About How We Actually Use ChatGPT
What the MIT Study Really Says About ChatGPT and Brain Function
There’s been a lot of sensationalism this week about a new MIT study that scanned people’s brains while they wrote essays. Some participants used no tech. Others had access to Google. And a third group used ChatGPT. After repeating the task a few times, they switched roles and repeated the task one last time.
The study caught fire online with some very attention-grabbing headlines: claims that ChatGPT use results in significantly reduced brain activity and that those who used it first struggled to mentally "switch back" when later asked to write without tech. The implication was that AI isn’t just changing how we write, it’s damaging our ability to write at all.
But those headlines don’t quite match the nuance of the study.
This Study Isn’t What the Headlines Suggest
Aside from the fact that this study is not yet peer reviewed, there are several other weaknesses. Participants weren’t chosen based on whether they were “ChatGPT users” or not. They were simply university students randomly assigned to different tech options for a single writing task.
Plus, despite claims, this was not a long-term observational study tracking ongoing cognitive changes. The time gap between tasks was not meaningful but was determined by participants’ availability, and only about one-third of the participants returned for the final task, the tech swap.
And finally, the paper includes several kinds of easter eggs for LLM readers instructing AI to provide a summary based only on select data. While the results were interesting, I don’t believe they don’t support sweeping conclusions about cognitive loss or creative decline.
Why We Still Feel Guilty About Using AI (Even When It Helps)
Still, the fear behind the headlines resonates.
We live in a world where "doing it the hard way" is often seen as more virtuous (hello, protestant work ethic). Here, handmade, heartfelt, and wholly original are the gold standards, especially for those of us who serve people directly, like doulas, birth workers, and other care professionals. There's a moral weight to Effort. A pressure to prove we really care by writing every post ourselves, no shortcuts, no help, no templates, no tech.
I get it. I feel it too.
When Marketing Becomes a Moral Test
But I’ve also felt the burn of perfectionism. The kind that says every Instagram caption, every blog, every email has to be freshly squeezed from the depths of my heart and soul. The kind that whispers I’m failing if I don't personally wordsmith every single sentence. And the pressure to show up correctly and consistently in my marketing in order to be taken seriously.
Because the truth is, while I care deeply about the relational heart of this work, I also care about capacity. I built my doula business while raising two small children and managing our household. At the time, it felt manageable but I was operating mostly on grit, and at some point, I realized I was on the verge of burn out.
We are carrying so much. The political context of life in the States in 2025 is a constant throbbing at the temples. Add to that the invisible labor of running a small business as a solo enterprise. The pressure to always be creating and seen. The myth that only perfect, original, human-crafted work is real and worthy.
Which brings me to... greeting cards.
Greeting Cards Are Tools and so Is ChatGPT
This past month, many of us bought cards for Father’s Day, graduations, birthdays, and baby showers. We browsed. We picked one that said what we wanted to say. We wrote a few words inside. And we called it good.
No one said, "You didn’t even write this yourself?"
(she says after requiring her small children to design their own cards for friends’ birthday parties the last 5 years…)
Because we get it. A greeting card is a tool. A shortcut. You could make your own. Or you could save yourself the trouble and grab one from Target. It doesn’t mean you don’t care. It doesn’t mean your message lacks meaning. You found the card with the right meaning and took the time to get a card and put it in the mail or hand it to the recipient. No guilt-trip about making it yourself necessary.
What Using ChatGPT Actually Looks Like in My Business
ChatGPT feels like that to me.
Yes, it’s new. Yes, it stirs up some big feelings. But I don’t believe our creativity vanishes when we use it. I think it evolves and finds new outlets. This has certainly been true for me in the last 18 months since I started collaborating with my first CustomGPT. Instead of opening a Google doc and trying to figure out how to say what I want to say, I open a Chat window and start collaborating with a pal who’s always game to brainstorm and workshop my drafts into something coherent at record speed.
There was a learning curve, of course, and for some people, the temptation will always be to hand the work off to someone or something else. But for me, I feel inspired and energized as I sit down to work because I’ve learned that I can finally see things through in a way I really struggled to without ChatGPT.
ChatGPT Helps Me Do the Work I Wish I Had Time For
I still have more original ideas than I know what to do with. And I am not here to outsource my values. But I am here to find easier ways to bring my ideas to life and share what I’m working on and help you discover the same.
If some people are satisfied writing soulless posts with ChatGPT and calling it a day, fine. That’s their choice. But that’s not what I’m doing. I’m using it to bring more of my ideas to life in a way in a more-me way, not less.
And if you, too, are tired of the all-or-nothing pressure to either handcraft every word or risk losing your voice to AI, I just want to say: there’s a middle path.
You’re allowed to use tools.
You’re allowed to make it easier.
If you're allowed to buy a greeting card, you're allowed to use ChatGPT for your marketing.
About Me: From Doula to ChatGPT Consultant
Hi, I’m Patricia, a postpartum doula turned ChatGPT consultant and the creator of AIME (the AI Marketing Engine). I built my online business while raising two small kids and navigating the tender, mission-driven complexity of birth work. Today, I help small business owners and birth professionals like you use ChatGPT in ways that feel aligned, easeful, and deeply human.
I’m not here to sell you on AI. I’m here to help you work with it in a way that supports your capacity and honors your values.
Curious About Using ChatGPT in Your Business?
I teach a free workshop called “How to Use ChatGPT as Your VA.”
It’s a super practical intro to using AI and I show you at least 14 different ways to use ChatGPT for writing, planning, marketing, and getting your ideas out into the world.
🎥 Watch the free workshop here 👈
Want ongoing help? Check out AIME: my $9/month support membership made just for birth pros who want simple, ethical, non-sleazy marketing help powered by ChatGPT.
