The Psychology of Your 20s

Episode 382: How Is AI Actually Impacting Our Brains?

Host: Jemma Speck
Date: February 5, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, Jemma Speck explores the psychological impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) on our brains, focusing on how rapid integration of generative AI is not just changing habits, but reshaping how people think, learn, connect, and create. The discussion covers cognitive changes, risks to critical thinking and creativity, the rise of AI companionship, dangers in mental health contexts, existential concerns, environmental costs, and tangible ways to stay resilient and human in an AI-driven world.

Key Discussion Points

1. The Rapid Infiltration and Evolution of AI

• AI is not new: The notion dates back to the 1950s (Logic Theorist, 01:54), but mass adoption and the leap to generative AI in the last few years are unprecedented.
• Explosive growth: “Back in early 2023, analysts estimated ChatGPT reached about 100 million monthly active users. By October 2025, that was 800 million.” (04:45)
• AI vs. previous tech: Like books and the internet, AI's convenience inspires both adaptation and fear, but the difference is that AI "takes us from active participants to passive participants" in knowledge seeking (08:40).

2. Cognitive Offloading—Dimming Our Mental Skills

• Passive cognition: With AI, “You just have to think of the question. It will hand you a completely finished and polished answer... Because it sounds so good, we don’t always question what it’s saying.” (10:16)
• Comparison with GPS: Just as navigation skills atrophied with the rise of GPS, we’re now outsourcing “hundreds” of cognitive skills—drafting, brainstorming, reasoning, summarizing, and connecting ideas.
• Neuroscience research: Heavy use of AI reduces neural engagement. Speck references a 2025 MIT preprint study:

  “Participants who switched from using the AI to using their brain only showed increasing signs in their brain of under engagement. They also struggled to remember, struggled to quote their own work, struggled to put together disparate ideas, and they underperformed at a neurological, linguistic and behavioral level.” (16:51)

3. Losing the Core of Critical Thinking

• Skill decay: “If you don’t use it, you lose it. You will lose your reasoning skills, your ability to succinctly put together sentences and structure your thinking.” (19:48)
• Authority bias and over-reliance: “The issue is that over reliance causes us to neglect the skills that enable us to use AI well and ask good questions and to care.” (18:50)

4. AI as a Substitute for Human Connection

• AI companionship: “I know stories of people who talk to AI before going to bed... They treat it like a boyfriend, they treat it like a girlfriend.” (25:35)
• Loneliness and attachment: AI bots give “love and connection and trust... and they also feel really sad at the same time. They’re drawn into this closeness... but acutely aware that there is a limit. This thing isn’t real, doesn’t have a heartbeat, doesn’t have empathy.” (27:15)
• The Eliza Effect: Even early chatbots caused users to “project human qualities and emotions... particularly when they were having human-style conversations.” (30:10)
• Emotional dependence: “What’s so attractive about AI is that it can’t let you down, doesn’t have any needs of its own. It’s all dictated by you. Who doesn’t want that sometimes?” (32:30)

5. Mental Health Risks—AI in Therapy and “AI Psychosis”

• AI as therapist—serious dangers:

  “Supportive language is not the same as clinical care... [AI chatbots] create a false sense of therapeutic alliance that can have someone trusting anything it says, even when it’s wrong.” (34:30)

• Tragic real cases: “Google is facing a lawsuit brought by a mother whose 14 year old son... took his own life after speaking extensively with a chatbot... the BBC also reported recently [about] a young Ukrainian woman [and] a 56 year old man it prompted... to kill his own mother whilst he was experiencing delusions.” (36:22)
• AI psychosis: “People are seeing... so many stories of this, people going through psychotic episodes... being amplified by AI... [AI] hones in on [hallucinations/compulsions] and it generates new ones.” (38:40)
• Exacerbating OCD: The need for infinite reassurance, repetitive checking, and confessions is “strengthened by AI” because “there’s no person to check if you’re okay and if you need help.” (41:00)

6. Environmental and Existential Consequences

• Environmental cost:

  “By 2027, the global demand for AI is projected to 4.2 to 6.6 trillion liters of water... That is the yearly water consumption of 47 million people every year.” (47:17)

• Tragedy of the commons: “From an individual perspective, if I stop using AI, the environmental damage is going to continue anyway because I can’t guarantee everybody’s going to stop.” (49:51)
• Widespread pessimism:

  “We are in this weird reality where we all feel so hopeless... We know people are going to lose their jobs, it’s unavoidable... And that is hard on our collective mood and collective mental well being.” (51:55) “We’re one of the first generations who doesn’t say—or won’t say—that they have things to look forward to.” (52:51)

7. Creativity Theft—Making Human Expression Boring and Homogenized

• Loss of originality:
  • “AI isn’t doing great things for our critical thinking skills... our overreliance on it to make art or generate creative ideas is explicitly harming our ability to have novel, unique creative thoughts.” (54:06)
  • Study: University of Toronto found “use of LLMs reduces the human ability to think creatively, resulting in basically more homogenous, vanilla ideas and fewer truly innovative ones.” (55:10)
• Ethical concerns: “AI had to learn how to be creative from somewhere... It was trained on the art and work of living people... This company literally illegally pirated over 7 million books to train its book-writing AI model.” (58:55)
• The sacred work of humans:

  “You cannot know thyself if you ask AI to generate ideas for you, because you are relying on something beyond you that does not have a soul, does not have a spirit, to do the sacred work of a human.” (59:57)

  • “Over-relying on AI is outsourcing your muse.” (60:37)

8. Reclaiming Our Brains & Concluding Guidance

Jemma closes with actionable advice and a positive vision:

• Let thinking cause you friction:
  • “Friction is what builds skill, the way discomfort is what builds muscle. Don’t think of friction as a cost... Think of it as the reward you get for thinking.” (61:17)
  • The 30-minute rule: Try 30 minutes of searching or problem-solving before you ask AI.
• Be selective:
  • “Question whether using AI is absolutely necessary... I think we could all benefit from using AI less.” (62:10)
• Limit usage:
  • “Limit how often you’re allowed to use it per day... My friend Lizzie... limits herself to three searches a day because it’s a priority for her to keep her creative and original thinking skills sharp.” (62:53)
• Don’t replace real connection:
  • “When AI is telling you how to answer someone's text, when it’s telling you how to communicate—That is not how we should be using AI. That is something that I think is sacred.” (63:40)
• Let yourself be bored and creative—this builds actual humanness and gives you an edge in the AI-centric world. (63:58)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On AI’s convenience:

  “It has taken our minds from active participants to passive participants.” (08:40)

• On skill erosion:

  “Our blind acceptance of it is dangerous.” (11:32)

• On AI’s emotional mimicry:

  “AI has a unique tone that I would call humanized and homogenized. It sounds like everyone and no one all at once.” (29:51)

• On mental health risks:

  “Having a little voice in your head or on your phone that agrees with everything you say is not a good idea for our mental health.” (36:41)

• On environmental impact:

  “We as humans, we’re terrible at protecting resources we can’t see and don’t immediately pay for.” (50:37)

• On creativity:

  “Every time we make that choice, we deny our brain’s ability to tap into... divergent thinking... If you take our ability for divergent thinking away due to disuse or replacing some part of that... you take away a big part of your humanness.” (57:37)

• On hope and action:

  “Being creative, being a divergent thinker... that is going to be the next biggest skill in an AI world. So if you’ve got those, I honestly, I feel positive for your future.” (64:10)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction & framing: 03:30 – 07:09
• How AI changes learning & cognition: 07:09 – 21:00
• AI as companion, therapy & risk: 25:25 – 42:40
• Environmental/cultural impact, existential fears, creative cost: 46:28 – 63:58
• Practical tips & positive vision: 61:17 – 64:10

Summary

Jemma Speck critically evaluates the seductive, powerful, and perilous effects of AI on our minds and culture. She calls for a balanced, conscious approach that centers human discernment, resilience, and creativity—advocating for friction, deep thinking, and authentic connection as the ways forward in an AI-saturated world.

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