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Every new tool changes the way we think. The calculator, for instance, freed us from tedious arithmetic, the GPS relieved us of remembering directions—and now, AI promises to shoulder much of our writing and reasoning. But at what cost?&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.brainonllm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A recent study</a> suggests that relying on ChatGPT for simple tasks like essay writing may impact the brain’s neural connectivity and take a toll on learning skills. It’s an early signpost for a larger question: What happens to human skills when we let machines do the work for us?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chatgpt-reliance-may-result-in-weaker-brain-engagement">ChatGPT reliance may result in weaker brain engagement</h2>



In June 2025, <a href="https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/your-brain-on-chatgpt/overview/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MIT researchers released a study</a> that involved 54 participants. In this experiment, they studied the cognitive costs of using large language models (LLMs), namely ChatGPT, in essay writing.&nbsp;



Students who tackled the same essay prompt were divided into three groups: LLM users, search engine users and a brain-only group. After their initial assigned sessions, the LLM group and the brain-only group swapped conditions: The LLM group would write without any tools, while the brain-only group would use ChatGPT.



Across all sessions, the brain-only group demonstrated the strongest connectivity, memory recall and sense of ownership. However, the LLM group consistently lagged in those metrics, and the search engine group fell in between.



This study is among the first of its kind and, by the authors’ own admission, comes with limitations. Even so, the results align with a broader pattern that’s already been observed in cognitive science.







<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-cognitive-risks-of-ai-reliance">The cognitive risks of AI reliance</h2>



Luke Barr, neurologist and chief medical officer at <a href="https://sensiqnootropics.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SensIQ</a>, likens the brain to a muscle that weakens over time if its functions aren’t actively used. “Relying too heavily on tools like AI to think, write or solve problems for us can dull key executive functions like working memory, attention control, language processing and critical reasoning,” he says.&nbsp;



He also notes that these effects have been observed in spatial navigation, where overreliance on GPS can gradually dull our innate sense of direction.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Similarly, AI reliance may bypass our prefrontal cortex—the seat of high-level reasoning and planning,” he adds. “If we’re outsourcing too much cognitive effort, we reduce the opportunity for synaptic reinforcement, which is essential for memory consolidation and learning.”



Barr’s explanation echoes a broader consensus in the field. One <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168010222001699" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2022 study</a> showed that synaptic plasticity—the strengthening and remodeling of neural connections—plays a central role in learning. When we learn <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/this-is-what-happens-in-your-brain-when-you-try-something-new/">something new</a>, the memory is first encoded in the hippocampus. But for it to stick, this information must be reinforced in the cortex, the brain’s long-term storage.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Repeatedly strengthening these synapses—through recall and problem-solving while awake and replay during sleep—helps you transform memory into durable knowledge.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ai-reliance-breeds-self-doubt">AI reliance breeds self-doubt</h2>



Overreliance on AI may also contribute to a decline in <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/17-bold-ways-to-boost-your-confidence/">confidence</a>.&nbsp;



“One thing I’ve noticed more and more is that students are starting to second-guess their own abilities, especially as writers,” says Cindy Chanin, founder and director of <a href="https://rainboweduconsulting.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rainbow EDU Consulting and Tutoring</a>. She’s had students acknowledge that they put their essays through ChatGPT and believe that the rewritten version, stripped of their original voice, “sounded better.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



“That’s what concerns me most—not just the use of AI, but the erosion of confidence it can cause in students who are still discovering their voices,” she adds.



Research points in the same direction. <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/lee_2025_ai_critical_thinking_survey.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A study from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University</a>, which involved 319 professionals who used GenAI tools weekly, revealed that confidence in these tools not only reduced critical thinking but also encouraged dependency and diminished independent problem-solving.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-should-ai-education-start-early">Should AI education start early?</h2>



Like calculators and search engines before it, AI is becoming irresistible to this generation. And if history is any guide, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes indispensable in classrooms. But not everyone is eager to ride that wave.&nbsp;



“AI hasn’t sparked a renaissance of learning,” observes Jessica Bartnick, CEO of <a href="https://www.foundationforchoice.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Foundation for C.H.O.I.C.E</a>, a mentoring and college access organization. Instead, “it’s ushered in a culture of shortcuts, laziness and lowered expectations.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



According to Bartnick, AI is dangerous because it provides easy access to instant answers, which tempts learners to cheat the process of discovery. “Real education requires wrestling with words and ideas, forming coherent arguments, organizing thoughts, and engaging in trial and error,” she says.&nbsp;



But <a href="https://www.drnarijeter.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nari Jeter</a>, a therapist and mother of two, argues that each generation must adapt to the tech of its time, as she did with the Internet in her school years. AI, she says, is this generation’s version of that struggle.



“I do think AI may help students tackle more complex problems, especially in the science and math fields,” she says. However, she’s concerned that their writing skills could suffer, especially since digital habits that favor quick reactions—like emojis and shorthand—are already widely used in everyday communication.



As for schoolwork, Jeter believes that children need to learn perseverance, with parents there to guide them through frustration.



AI is everywhere now, so the real safeguard isn’t resistance—it’s balance. In line with this idea, <a href="https://www.neilsahota.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Neil Sahota</a>, a United Nations AI adviser and UC Irvine lecturer, advocates for teaching students how to use AI because trying to ban it would only forfeit opportunities to guide positive behaviors. As a solution, he suggests that classrooms could use AI as a sounding board. For instance, history teachers could have their students fact-check AI-generated essays, or science teachers could assign students to test AI’s ideas in the lab.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“If we treat AI as just another research shortcut, we’ve lost,” he says. “That’s why we need to teach students how to question AI, how to validate its output and how to use it responsibly.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-better-ways-to-use-ai">Better ways to use AI</h2>



So how do we use AI to our benefit? Here are five strategies from experts:



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-rebuild-your-metacognition">1. Rebuild your metacognition</h3>



An excellent way to keep your mind sharp while using AI regularly, Barr suggests, is to rebuild your metacognition. This involves solidifying your knowledge through active recall rather than copying it.&nbsp;



“After using AI,” he says, “reflect on what you learned. Can you teach it back to yourself or someone else without notes? If not, you likely haven’t processed it deeply enough.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-use-chatgpt-to-refine-your-knowledge">2. Use ChatGPT to refine your knowledge</h3>



Framing ChatGPT as a source for feedback instead of answers is another way to harness AI without losing the skills you’re outsourcing, says clinical social worker Brie Scolaro of <a href="https://www.aspiretherapynyc.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aspire Psychotherapy</a>. That means doing the work yourself before letting AI refine it.&nbsp;



“Even if your attempt is messy, the act of struggling through forces your brain to engage working memory, strengthen neural pathways and build retention,” Scolaro says. This might include drafting an email or outlining on your own before having AI smooth out your writing.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-practice-delayed-gratification">3. Practice delayed gratification</h3>



Scolaro is also concerned about declining confidence when users constantly outsource their judgment to AI. This is why you should “use AI sparingly to check facts but practice tolerating uncertainty so you don’t lose trust in your own reasoning,” they advise.&nbsp;



When you feel the urge to outsource an answer, Scolaro recommends delaying the impulse by five or 10 minutes. This practice trains your mind to reason through the problem and thus improves your confidence.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-set-intentional-boundaries">4. Set intentional boundaries</h3>



Equally important is <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/setting-healthy-boundaries-3-simple-steps-to-establishing-boundaries-that-stick/">setting intentional boundaries</a>, Scolaro says. That means discerning when AI tools help you and when they undermine the skills you must protect.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



For instance, you could work through math problems on your own and only use AI to spot mistakes and deepen your understanding. This process is about letting AI help you while staying aware and in control of what the machine is doing.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-strengthen-your-baseline-attention">5. Strengthen your baseline attention</h3>



Scolaro also believes that if you use AI tools frequently, it's important to balance that habit with those that strengthen your baseline attention—your innate ability to concentrate. Stronger baseline attention means you can focus well and use AI strategically rather than habitually. But when your attention is weak, you tend to rush to AI to compensate. 



Let’s say you want to understand a document but can’t focus for long. So instead of reading it yourself, you ask AI to summarize it and believe what the summary says without fact-checking the information.&nbsp;That’s substituting effort, which only weakens your attentional skills further. 



To instead reinforce your baseline attention, Scolaro recommends evidence-based practices like mindfulness, HRV biofeedback and even simple single-tasking.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-cost-of-surrendering-to-ai">The cost of surrendering to AI</h2>



We’ve all heard the common refrain by now: “AI is taking our jobs.” That’s not entirely wrong—but since AI isn’t going anywhere, we now have to learn to live with it. Otherwise, the next claim to float into the anti-AI discourse might be, “AI is taking our skills.”



Like any convenience, AI is a double-edged sword, so the onus is on you to use it with care. But remember: Your mind is your greatest asset. It was built to create and resolve. So if you’re surrendering your thinking to AI, you’re wasting the very gift that makes you human.&nbsp;&nbsp;



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Yen Nguyen

What happens to human skills when machines do the work for us? Learn more about how AI is impacting the way we process information.

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Philanthropy

Philanthropy Archives

Philanthropy | SUCCESS | What Achievers Read

This fall, more than 70,000 students have poured into College Station, Texas, to kick off a new school year at Texas A&amp;M University. And every spring, those students give back to the community through <a href="https://bigevent.tamu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Big Event</a>—the largest one-day, college student–run <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/importance-of-community-service/">service project</a> in the nation.



According to Director Reed McReynolds, a junior at Texas A&amp;M, The Big Event is a thank-you to the communities of College Station and neighboring Bryan.



“We take up their roads, we take up their restaurants, we make a lot of traffic and congestion… [so] it’s a really cool way for us to bridge that gap and put a name to a face,” he says. “Yes, we are college students, and we do take up a lot of this city. But we’re here to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/ways-to-give-back-to-your-community/">give back</a>, and we do want to have genuine relationships… so it’s a really good way for the university to partner with the community.”



Since The Big Event was founded in 1982 by Joe Nussbaum, the service project has expanded to 130 events around the nation as students at other universities and high schools have followed Texas A&amp;M's blueprint. Here’s a closer look at those who have started these nationwide Big Events (and how you can follow in their footsteps):



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-college-students-giving-back-to-the-community">College students giving back to the community​</h2>



For more than 40 years, The Big Event has united the student body and allowed them to connect with full-time residents of Bryan and College Station. The volunteer day embodies all six <a href="https://www.tamu.edu/about/purpose-values.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aggie core values</a>, but it’s selfless service that takes center stage. With tools in hand, students leave campus and do all types of jobs—such as yard work, window washing, cleaning and painting—for both residential and nonprofit property owners in the community who need a helping hand.&nbsp;



Although the tangible benefits of property upkeep are undeniable, McReynolds says that one of the “coolest things” about The Big Event is the connection college students make with residents. “People who go and volunteer at these houses.… They make friends with these people,” he says. “Then people request [those same students] the next year to come back.”



To participate, residents file requests for help and student volunteers through The Big Event website. They are then contacted by a staff assistant, who visits the property to meet the owner, document the scope of the job and determine the types of tools that will be needed. In 2025, 17,118 students served 2,374 residents.&nbsp;



It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers and the magnitude of the event, but selfless service truly shines in the personal interactions this event leads to, leaving a lasting impact on residents and students alike.&nbsp;



For instance, Associate Director Leila Chang, a senior at Texas A&amp;M, says she bonded with a resident two years ago who she still keeps in touch with today. Chang visited the resident the day before The Big Event to make sure everything was ready for volunteers, and they ended up chatting for more than an hour about plants and the homeowner’s cat.



“I ended up… getting to know her and listen[ed] to her story,” Chang says. “She showed me a lot of pictures of her and her family, and I ended up cat-sitting for her that next month…. It’s those little things that really have that impact on the community, and so I’m grateful for that experience.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-spreading-student-community-service-nationwide">Spreading student community service nationwide</h2>



Mike Hays, a counselor in Texas’ Northwest Independent School District and a 1996 graduate of Texas A&amp;M, brought The Big Event to Northwest High School in 2013. He says that at that time, there was a push for service leadership in public school systems, and he knew that a volunteer program based on The Big Event would provide that type of experience for students.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The unity and being like-minded on a project that big is really cool,” he says, “[and] that’s something that also moved me, so I wanted to bring it to the kids.”



According to Hays, NHS’ first Big Event drew more than 1,000 student volunteers, and they completed 30 projects, the bulk of which were for elderly residents who needed help with yard work and cleaning up their properties.



His eldest daughter, Abby Richardson, who volunteered at the Northwest event as a young girl, was inspired as a teenager to start The Big Event at her high school, and later at the college she attended. “When I first heard about The Big Event, even at 11, I was immediately obsessed with it and loved the idea of going out and serving the community,” she says.



Richardson says that her main goal when planning each event was to focus on the people they served. “We wanted the people we were serving to think, ‘Wow, we can’t believe those kids just did that,’” she says. “One year, we moved a boat out of someone’s yard, and the kids pulled weeds and took out brush. It looked like a whole different yard when we were done.” She also recalls celebrating a resident’s 99th birthday while on-site to clean up her yard. “She had on a sash and tiara,” she adds, “and she was just so happy… to have all these students in her home.”



According to Richardson, “anybody can make a Big Event happen. If you’re excited and passionate about the work that’s being done, you can do it. There are resources out there. Find someone in a position of authority [if you’re a student], or if you’re in a position of authority, find a student and figure out how you can make it happen together.”



Richardson hopes to one day found her third Big Event at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, where she serves as assistant director of events.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-start-a-big-event-community-project">How to start a Big Event community project</h2>



Chang says that the various Big Events held across the country are unique and aren’t regulated or managed by Texas A&amp;M. Instead, they’re inspired by A&amp;M’s effort and are united by the <a href="https://bigevent.tamu.edu/conference/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">One Big Thanks Conference</a>, which is held annually to motivate and train students to lead events at their respective campuses.



While The Big Event originated as a student-led project, there’s no reason a corporation or business couldn’t lead a similar project in their respective communities, using <a href="https://bigevent.tamu.edu/start-a-big-event/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A&amp;M’s template</a>. If you’re looking to do so, McReynolds suggests starting small and taking the time to get to know those you’ll be helping.



“Focus deeply on the connection before you do the service,” he says. “If you can start with five or six homes and really get to know [the] people in those homes, then that’s how you get traction and really start to build something that’s really meaningful.”



Matt Anderson, faculty and primary adviser for The Big Event, adds that if it’s difficult to find residents or specific properties to serve, you should reach out to local community centers or nonprofit organizations for assistance. “They really appreciate that help, as well as the residents,” he says.



Here are some other tips to get you started:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Get the support of community leaders.</li>



<li>Publicize the event to recruit volunteers and secure donations.</li>



<li>Start accumulating tools early.</li>



<li>Arrange transportation for people and tools to job sites.</li>
</ul>



McReynolds says that his goals for A&amp;M’s 2026 event include gathering 1,000–2,000 more volunteers and partnering with 500–1,000 more residents. He and Chang are also working to boost internal relations among their team.



“We want to make sure everyone is known and seen and feels like they have a part and can learn from The Big Event,” McReynolds says.&nbsp;



“It’s been cool to see how one man’s vision to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/hallie-seltzer-talks-leadership-in-business/">serve the community</a> has turned into a lasting legacy at the Texas A&amp;M campus,” he continues, “where we get to live out one of our core values of selfless service.”



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Kristen Tribe

Learn how over 70,000 students are transforming lives through The Big Event and sparking service projects nationwide.

Learn how over 70,000 students are transforming lives through The Big Event and sparking service projects nationwide. | SUCCESS

The Big Event: Serving Communities Nationwide (and How You Can Too)

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Kathryn Giuffrida

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