Neuroscientist links chronic AI use to lower cognitive reserve

Theoretical neuroscientist Vivienne Ming said repeated use of AI to perform cognitive tasks could reduce the brain's cognitive reserve, a factor linked to lower dementia risk. "Your chatbot is not giving you Alzheimer's," Ming told Business Insider.

" Ming said the concern centers on how people use AI rather than how often they use it. She pointed to research showing that greater lifetime GPS experience correlates with weaker spatial memory and that students who used large language models to write essays showed reduced neural connectivity.

A 2020 analysis of 12,280 adults aged 50 and older by the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing found older people with higher cognitive reserve had a 35% lower risk of developing dementia. Ming noted that current data on AI use and dementia are still correlational or short-term.

"By the time we have the dementia data, a generation will have already formed the habit," Ming said. Ming added that the hippocampus and prefrontal networks, which are involved in memory, learning, and decision-making, are the systems most relevant to cognitive aging if those functions are used less frequently.