{"id":5422,"date":"2025-07-07T16:23:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T14:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propaganda3.it\/chatgpt-e-come-usare-il-cervello\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T16:44:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T15:44:29","slug":"chatgpt-is-useful-but-our-brain-is-even-more-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propaganda3.it\/en\/chatgpt-is-useful-but-our-brain-is-even-more-so\/","title":{"rendered":"ChatGPT is incredibly useful \u2014 but our brain is even more so."},"content":{"rendered":"

When a 1970s computer beats ChatGPT in a game of chess, maybe it\u2019s time to stop and think about our biological superpowers.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The plot twist nobody expected (but we probably should have)<\/h2>\n

Picture the scene: ChatGPT<\/strong>, the artificial intelligence that shook the foundations of the tech world, virtually sits down at a chessboard<\/strong> to face\u2026 a 1977 Atari computer<\/strong>. Yes, you read that right: a machine born in the \u201970s, when smartphones were science fiction and the internet was still called ARPANET.<\/p>\n

\"atari<\/a><\/p>\n

The result? The Atari 2600 checkmated ChatGPT as if it were a beginner at their first neighborhood club tournament. But while headlines immediately started shouting \u201cAI IS OVER!\u201d with all the subtlety of a jackhammer, we prefer to do what we do best: dig beneath the surface and understand what this really means<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This \u201cdefeat\u201d is anything but proof that AI is useless, contrary to what\u2019s being said lately. Instead, it gives us the perfect excuse to start a reflection<\/em>: what if the most versatile machine in the world, right now, were still our brain<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll dig deeper into this topic from a scientific<\/strong> point of view later in the article. In the meantime, by mid-July the story got even juicier: after the sound defeat ChatGPT suffered at the hands of the Atari 2600, there was another disaster. ChatGPT was challenged online by the world\u2019s no. 1 chess player, Magnus Carlsen. The result? ChatGPT lost all its pieces and resigned. The Norwegian champion, on the other hand, didn\u2019t lose a single piece, finishing the match in just 53 moves<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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AI and the brain: a (complicated) love story 150 years in the making<\/h2>\n

Before we rush to declare the failure of artificial intelligence, let\u2019s take a step back. The relationship between the human mind and machines<\/strong> didn\u2019t begin with ChatGPT, or even with computers. It all started in 1847, when a certain George Boole<\/strong> had the brilliant intuition that human thought could be translated into mathematics<\/strong>: true\/false, 1\/0, on\/off.<\/p>\n

From there, it\u2019s been a long dance of mutual inspiration. In 1943, McCulloch and Pitts looked at the neurons in our brain and thought: \u201cHey, what would happen if we built artificial networks that worked like this?\u201d And so neural networks<\/strong> were born \u2014 the very ones powering ChatGPT today<\/strong> and letting us ask AI to write poems about our cats (now that\u2019s innovation!).<\/p>\n

But here comes the first plot twist<\/em>: despite all this biological inspiration, the human brain and modern AI work in completely different ways<\/strong>. Our brain consumes about 20 watts \u2014 less than a LED bulb \u2014 yet it can recognize faces, drive cars, play Go<\/em> and simultaneously think about what to make for dinner. An AI system that wants to beat a Go<\/em> master, a 2,500-year-old game? It needs tens of thousands of watts. It\u2019s like comparing an e-bike to a monster truck: both get you from A to B, but with slightly different fuel efficiency.<\/p>\n

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Does using ChatGPT make your brain lazier? MIT says yes<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s an uncomfortable question, but a legitimate one. And the answer \u2014 at least according to MIT \u2014 is: kind of, yes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A recent study with a title that sounds like a pretty serious warning (\u201cYour Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task\u201d<\/em>) tried to understand what happens to our minds when we let AI do the heavy lifting<\/strong>. Spoiler: the brain relaxes \u2014 maybe a little too much.<\/p>\n

Researchers measured the brain activity of 54 students while they wrote essays, with and without AI. The result? ChatGPT made everything easier, yes, but it also \u201cswitched off\u201d some areas of the brain linked to memory, planning and critical thinking<\/strong>. In practice: less effort = less activation = less engagement. And that\u2019s not all: those who wrote with AI remembered their texts less and struggled more when they had to go back to writing without assistance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This phenomenon has been called \u201ccognitive debt<\/strong>\u201d: the more you delegate, the less you train yourself to think on your own<\/em>. A concept that sparked debate \u2014 also thanks to sensationalist headlines like \u201cChatGPT Is Making Us Dumber!\u201d. In reality, as the information page DataPizza also explains clearly, the study doesn\u2019t demonize AI, it invites us to use it with awareness<\/em><\/strong>. The real risk isn\u2019t using AI per se, but using it passively and unconsciously, which in the long run can undermine our ability to think autonomously.<\/p>\n

\"MIT<\/a><\/p>\n

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When AI makes mistakes like we do (and why that\u2019s not necessarily bad)<\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s where the story gets interesting. Recent studies have found that larger language models make reasoning errors that are surprisingly similar to our own human cognitive biases<\/strong>. AI falls into the same logical traps, uses the same mental shortcuts, and makes the same statistical mistakes we do when we need to make quick decisions.<\/p>\n

But \u2014 and this is a \u201cbut\u201d as big as a Google data center, which, by the way, consumes a ton of energy \u2014 how it gets to those errors is completely different from ours<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

AI reasons on purely logical\u2013mathematical bases<\/strong>, with no emotions, distractions, or that little inner voice telling us \u201cmaybe I should check if my washing machine is done instead of finishing this article.\u201d That makes it incredibly effective at processing mountains of data without ever getting tired<\/strong>. But it also deprives it of that \u201ctacit\u201d understanding of the world that we acquire simply by living, breathing, and repeatedly banging our heads against everyday problems.<\/p>\n

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The human factor: creativity, intuition and that thing called \u201ccommon sense\u201d<\/h2>\n

This is the heart of the matter. A human being can make mistakes out of distraction (curse you, notifications\u2026), but also possesses something no AI has yet replicated: the ability to have insights that seem to come out of nowhere<\/strong>, to think outside the box, to say \u201cwait, something\u2019s off here\u201d even when all the data says otherwise.<\/p>\n

Emotional intuition plays a crucial role in our decisions<\/strong>. As human beings, we instinctively understand when a situation calls for empathy, when moral values should override the numbers, when the social consequences of a decision matter more than algorithmic efficiency.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s AIs can recognize the emotional tone of a text and simulate an empathetic response, but it\u2019s like watching a robot actor playing someone in love: technically flawless, emotionally hollow. They don\u2019t actually feel emotions, they have no consciousness, they don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to wake up at 3 a.m. worrying about the future of the planet. And maybe that\u2019s for the best.<\/p>\n

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Smart use of ChatGPT: when to delegate and when to keep your brain switched on<\/h2>\n

So, when does it make sense to use ChatGPT and when is it better to rely on our 20-watt analog brain?<\/strong> The answer isn\u2019t \u201calways\u201d or \u201cnever,\u201d but \u201cit depends on what you\u2019re doing, what you want to achieve \u2014 and how much you care about the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can delegate to ChatGPT<\/strong> when:<\/p>\n