Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Use of large language models might affect our cognitive skills

Nature Human Behaviour volume 8, pages 805–806 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Large language models can generate sophisticated text or code with little input from a user, which has the potential to impoverish our own writing and thinking skills. We need to understand the effect of this technology on our cognition and to decide whether this is what we want.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Heersmink, R. Rev. Phil. Psychol. 4, 465–481 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Carr, N. The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains (W. W. Norton & Co., 2010).

  3. Mao, Y., White, T., Sadler, P. & Sonnert, G. Educ. Stud. Math. 94, 69–83 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Hejtmánek, L., Oravcová, I., Motýl, J., Horáček, J. & Fajnerová, I. Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud. 116, 15–24 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Sparrow, B., Liu, J. & Wegner, D. M. Science 333, 776–778 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Menary, R. Lang. Sci. 29, 621–632 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Clark, A. Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension (Oxford Univ. Press, 2008).

  8. Heersmink, R. Phenomenol. Cogn. Sci. 14, 577–598 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Sutton, J. in The Extended Mind (ed. Menary, R.) 189–225 (MIT Press, 2010).

  10. Heersmink, R. Minds Mach. 26, 389–407 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I thank M. Colombo and J. Clavel Vazquez for helpful comments on an earlier draft and B. de Rooij for interesting discussions on LLMs.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, School of Humanities and Digital Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Richard Heersmink

Authors
  1. Richard Heersmink
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard Heersmink.

Ethics declarations

Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Heersmink, R. Use of large language models might affect our cognitive skills. Nat Hum Behav 8, 805–806 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01859-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01859-y

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing