AI chatbots make people think the same way, study says

Part of what makes us human is the unique ways in which we think and solve problems. But the use of large language models like ChatGPT may erode that uniqueness and lead humans to think and communicate in the same way, according to a group of scientists and psychologists who co-authored a new opinion paper.

“Individuals differ in how they write, think, and view the world,” said Zevar Surati, a computer scientist at the University of Southern California and first author on the paper. In a statement.

“When these differences are mediated by the same language master’s degree holders, their distinct linguistic style, perspective, and logical strategies become homogeneous, producing uniform expressions and ideas across users,” Al-Sourati continued.

The paperpublished Wednesday in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, looks at how hundreds of millions of people around the world use the same set of chatbots and what that means for our personality.

Think inside the box

Pew Research Found A third of Americans used ChatGPT last year, double the number in 2023. Chatbot use is more common Among teenagers: Two-thirds say they use chatbots, and nearly a third use them daily.

Companies are also moving towards artificial intelligence. Stanford Found 78% of organizations reported using AI in 2024, up from 55% in 2023.

So we use AI a lot. But the danger is that we may lose diversity in our ways of thinking. The team notes that LLM holders produce writings that differ less from what people produce on their own.

According to the paper’s authors, part of the reason MSc students are pushed toward consistent thinking is the data used to train them.

“Because LLMs are trained to capture and reproduce statistical regularities in their training data, which often overrepresent dominant languages ​​and ideologies, their outputs often reflect a narrow and skewed slice of human experience,” says Sourati.

Why diverse thinking matters

There is good reason why the authors warn against this trend. Homogeneous thought diminishes pluralism, which is essentially the idea that multiple viewpoints are beneficial to society as a whole.

“This value of pluralism is rooted in the long-standing principle that good governance requires exposure to diverse ideas,” the authors wrote in their paper. “If this homogeneity is not checked, it risks flattening the cognitive landscape that drives collective intelligence and adaptability.”

So we use different ways of thinking Find out more solutions To a problem. If we lose the ability to think and communicate differently, this may affect how we adapt to new situations.

“The concern is not only that LLMs shape the way people write or speak, but that they subtly redefine what counts as credible discourse, valid perspective, or even good thinking,” says Sourati.

The authors also say that this trend even affects people who don’t use chatbots.

“If a lot of people around me think and speak a certain way, and I do things a different way, I will feel pressure to conform to them, because it might seem like a more credible or socially acceptable way to express my thoughts,” says Sourati.