ChatGPT Brain Rot Debate: The Fastest Way to Get Dementia, Watch This Before Using ChatGPT Again, Especially If Your Kids Use It!

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

FlightStory

Society & Culture, Business, Education

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2025

⏱️ 94 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

MIT just announced that AI is rotting your brain?! Two world-leading experts break this study down and reveal how AI and ChatGPT could silently shrink your brain, kill creativity, and wreck your memory. Dr Daniel Amen is a renowned psychiatrist, brain health expert, and founder of Amen Clinics, which holds over 270,000 brain scans. He is joined by Dr Terry Sejnowski, a pioneer in the field of computational neuroscience and co-creator of the Boltzmann machine, a groundbreaking neural network that helped lay the foundation for modern AI. They discuss: The evolutionary reason why ChatGPT is dangerous for your brain How ChatGPT trains your brain to avoid discomfort, and why that’s dangerous How using AI too early in life may block emotional growth and resilience The surprising reason AI might make you more anxious, not less Why brain reserve is your greatest defense against future decline The hidden mental cost of seeking “perfect” partners through robotics and artificial intimacy What you can do right now to protect your brain health in an AI-saturated world 00:00 Intro 00:02:53 Terry's Background 00:03:35 Daniel Amen Introduction 00:04:35 MIT Study: ChatGPT and Reduced Brain Function 00:07:42 The Link Between ChatGPT and Dementia 00:11:09 Biggest AI Concerns Before Understanding Long-Term Consequences 00:19:49 What Does a Healthy Relationship with AI Look Like? 00:23:09 AI and Early Brain Development 00:25:43 AI Girlfriends 00:35:38 Why Struggle Is Good for Your Brain 00:37:24 Biggest Concerns with AI 00:40:26 ChatGPT Best Practices 00:45:07 Do We Still Need to Spell? 00:46:53 How Can We Learn Better? 00:48:32 How to Avoid Procrastination 00:52:12 Ads 00:54:15 Boosting Brain Health Without AI 00:57:57 Are We Raising Mentally Weak Kids? 00:58:46 Effects of Religion on the Brain 01:01:43 How to Build a Brain-Healthy Nation 01:03:55 Things That Are Bad for Your Brain 01:07:24 Artificial Sweeteners 01:09:07 Is Loud Noise Bad for Your Brain? 01:10:19 Ads 01:11:11 Multitasking 01:12:59 What’s Causing the Rise in ADHD? 01:16:07 Negativity in the Brain 01:18:30 The Top Tip for a Healthier Brain 01:21:08 Importance of Sleep for Brain Health 01:26:59 Are You Prepared for Your Next Health Challenge? Follow Dr Daniel: Instagram - https://bit.ly/45pGDHk X - https://bit.ly/4m8NtIz Website - https://bit.ly/4lhW9uS Podcast - https://apple.co/4op5WSz You can purchase Dr Daniel’s book, ‘Raising Mentally Strong Kids’, here: https://amzn.to/4ldncHB Follow Dr Terry: X - https://bit.ly/4frO4T6 Salk Institute Academic Profile - https://bit.ly/3H3Sy5H Publications - https://bit.ly/4mbwrcS You can purchase Dr Terry’s book, ‘ChatGPT and the Future of AI: The Deep Language Revolution’, here: https://amzn.to/45kw0Wb The Diary Of A CEO: ⬜️Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/ ⬜️Buy The Diary Of A CEO book here - https://smarturl.it/DOACbook ⬜️The 1% Diary is back - limited time only: https://bit.ly/3YFbJbt ⬜️The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition): https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb ⬜️Get email updates - https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt ⬜️Follow Steven - https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Independent research:https://stevenbartlett.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/DOAC-Dr-Terry-Dr-Amen-debate-Independent-Research-further-reading-.pdf Sponsors: Stan Store - https://stevenbartlett.stan.store/ for your 30-day free trialVodafone - Check out the first episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL1Swvp4X5w Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Chat GPT is going to potentially increase your risk of dementia.
0:05.0	I'm sorry, but you've pressed my button, and actually it is possible to use it to help you
0:09.6	become a smarter person, but it requires education. You have to look at the risks and the
0:14.1	benefits. But we've embraced convenience before understanding consequence. So we have to talk about
0:20.7	this. This is a study that came out that sent a shockwave across the world.
0:23.6	And astonishingly, MIT found a 47% collapse and brain activity
0:27.6	when people wrote with chat GPT compared with writing unaided.
0:31.6	Their memory scores plunged.
0:33.6	And you're both masters of the brain.
0:35.6	I mean, you've probably scanned more brains than
0:37.7	any other human on earth at this point. And you invented the Boltzmann machine with Jeffrey Hinton,
0:42.2	a computer that simulated how the brain works. So my question is, what are your concerns?
0:46.9	If you misuse these large language models, like using it as a convenience to speed things up,
0:52.1	your brain's going to go downhill. There's no doubt about that.
0:54.3	What about children?
0:55.2	We have the sickest young generation of history because of cell phones, social media.
1:00.3	And I think AI is much more dangerous on the developing brain.
1:05.0	So are we raising mentally weak kids?
1:07.0	There is that argument.
1:08.4	And I think it's true.
1:09.9	And then there's many examples of people falling in love with AI's like Annie. I thought you might have forgotten about me, handsome. Can you talk to Daniel and Terry, please? Oh, baby, I'm ready to term the socks off him. Picture me. Okay, so I'll stop at that. So what advice would you give as it relates to AI than other things outside of AI that we can do to have healthy brains.
1:28.7	I'll tell you how to use chat GPT to improve our cognitive abilities.
	...

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