The Impact of AI on Knowledge Retention

Marco Aurelio GV
2 days ago
4 min read

Is our brain being excessively outsourced because of Artificial Intelligence? I believe so. And that is concerning. If limits are not established while there is still time, this troubling perspective could have serious consequences, especially for those who follow the so-called “law of least mental effort.” The following essay was inspired by an experiment conducted at a Brazilian university (UFRJ) aiming to measure the real impact of AI usage on long-term knowledge retention. In other words, to what extent could the lack of mental effort caused by AI influence the consolidation of information in the brain? Join this debate.

The current rise in brain underuse may compromise the brain’s natural synaptic rhythm. If this practice becomes ingrained, it could generate a new neural configuration. It is different than the known neuroplasticity, which generally helps the brain readapt when something happens in the brain. This time, the effect is the reverse.

One of the effects could be the emergence or worsening of cognitive diseases, a topic discussed in another article: Is Too Much AI Making Us Think Less? What It Means for Brain Health and Dementia. Other consequences may also arise, particularly those resulting from the inadequate or unnatural use of the brain, leading to only temporary knowledge retention.

Recently, I came across an experiment published in 2025 in the renowned journal Social Sciences & Humanities titled: ChatGPT as a cognitive crutch: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial on knowledge retention.

The objective of the experiment was to test the effectiveness of the research methods used by two groups of students. Both groups received the same topic and the same deadline.

The teams were divided as follows:

Group using ChatGPT as research support
Group using traditional research methods

Afterwards, the researchers announced that the results would only be revealed 45 days after the experiment ended.

In short, when the deadline was over, the outcome was surprising.

The students who used ChatGPT performed significantly worse than the other group because they were unable to retain what they had researched a month and a half later, i.e., their brains retrieved the information but disposed of it as if it were data stored in a kind of temporary RAM memory.

Thus, the team that researched “manually” using traditional methods retained the information and remembered everything, achieving higher scores than those who used AI. So, there was genuine mental effort involved in the process.

The Brain Needs Friction

As in life itself, we all know that we only achieve something through effort. After all, “nothing falls from the sky without a reason.”

In the learning process or the acquisition of new knowledge, this rule is no different. Effort is both external and internal. It is not merely a passive action.

The analogy I make when people “pretend” to use their brains is this: you go to the gym, but someone else does your entire workout routine for you. You pretend to be tired and consider yourself “trained.”

To truly learn and absorb information, the human brain needs to be “frictioned,” meaning stimulated through:

trial and error
effort and persistence
repetition and resilience
difficulty and problem-solving

In neuroscience, there is a concept called Desirable Difficulties, which means: the more challenging the learning process, the more lasting it becomes. In other words, the most effective brain is the one that has been most challenged. Knowledge will remain fixed for a longer period.

In other words, difficulty is never an obstacle; it is the path itself.

In summary, followers of the “law of least effort” rather delegate the heavy work to machines in pursuit of speed so they can later claim productivity in record time. However, the retained knowledge will only be temporary, and if the task needs to be repeated in the future, they will have to start from scratch all over again.

On the other hand, those who retain the information in permanent memory will not face that problem later, and their knowledge will endure. Do you realize this paradox of knowledge?

The Era of the Shortcuts to Gain Time

This typical transfer of mental effort also has a name: Cognitive Offloading. The truth is that we have always chosen more restricted and practical goals. It's an old habit.

For example:

we use calculators
we follow GPS directions
we save contacts instead of memorizing phone numbers

However, it is important to emphasize that such tools do not think for us. AI does. Perhaps that is the breaking point that continues to shake the foundations of modern humanity.

The Key Is Knowing How to Use AI Properly and Cleverly

It would be simplistic to blame Artificial Intelligence itself due to human complacency.

Remember: you are the one controlling the game and establishing the rules. If you have a sense of limits, good judgment, and understand how and when to take advantage of the machine’s benefits, then you will have at your disposal the most powerful technological tool of all times.

Because AI is capable of:

accelerating learning
democratizing knowledge
expanding human capability

However, we must never forget that there is a subtle and dangerous line between:

using AI as a tool

versus

depending on AI to think for us

If we cross that line, we will stop being the protagonists of our own thinking and become hostages to whatever thinks on our behalf.

Conclusion

Those who believe that delivering a perfectly polished product on time, one that will obviously be recognized as not entirely their own work, no matter how skilled they are, will automatically earn them prestige and admiration are mistaken.

AI already has its own signature, its own recognizable mark. And the only praise the “author” of such work may receive is that they “knew how to give the right prompt.” Nothing more than that.

Ultimately, we are driven by challenges.

And so make no mistake, no tool in the world will ever be superior to long-term knowledge when it comes to fulfilling a mission successfully. In other words, crucial information crystallized in the mind will always be the most powerful weapon for success.

That leaves us with one final question: