Technology and society

In an effort to help “build the tools and talent to shape a more productive and sustainable future for manufacturing,” MIT has launched the Initiative for New Manufacturing (INM), reports Nathan Owens for Manufacturing Dive. “We have low tech, low skill, low wages, low productivity, and you can’t really fix any one of these pieces without trying to really pull this ‘knot’ apart,” explains Prof. Suzanne Berger. “And, the question is, how do we do that?” Owens explains that “to help accelerate technology adoption and manufacturing productivity, MIT’s New Manufacturing Initiative has mapped out a series of education and industry partnership programs, including plans to establish new labs and a “factory observation” effort that allows students to visit production sites.”

Researchers at MIT have found that ChatGPT users “showed minimal brain engagement and consistently fell short in neural linguistic, and behavioral aspects,” reports Kyle Wiggers for TechCrunch. “To conduct the test, the lab split 54 participants from the Boston area into three groups, each consisting of individuals ages 18 to 39,” explains Wiggers. “The participants were asked to write multiple SAT essays using tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the Google search engine, or without any tools.” 

The New Yorker reporter Kyle Chayka spotlights a study by MIT researchers examining the impact of AI chatbot use on the brain. “The results from the analysis showed a dramatic discrepancy: subjects who used ChatGPT demonstrated less brain activity than either of the other groups,” explains Chayka. 

Noman Bashir, a fellow with MIT’s Climate and Sustainability Consortium, speaks with Abby Acone of FOX 13 about the environmental impacts of generative AI, and the benefits and challenges posed by increasing use of AI tools. Bashir emphasizes that the use of generative AI should be “very judicious, not a blind application of AI for all applications.”

A study by researchers from MIT and elsewhere compares productivity differences between remote and in-person work attendance, reports Gleb Tsipursky for The Hill. The study found that “employees do not simply become more efficient because a manager watches their every move,” explains Tsipursky. “Rather, they want clarity, communication, and trust.” 

Researchers from MIT have found that “extended use of LLMs for research and writing could have long-term behavioral effects, such as lower brain engagement and laziness,” reports Theo Burman for Newsweek. “The study found that the AI-assisted writers were engaging their deep memory processes far less than the control groups, and that their information recall skills were worse after producing work with ChatGPT,” explains Burman. 

Researchers at MIT have found that “AI agents can make the workplace more productive when fine-tuned for different personality types, but human co-workers pay a price in lost socialization,” reports Kaustuv Basu for Bloomberg. The researchers concluded “found that humans using AI raised their productivity by 60%—partly because those workers sent 23% fewer social messages,” writes Basu. 

Sloan Lecturer Michael Schrage speaks with Fortune reporter Sheryl Estrada about prompt-a-thons, “structured, sprint-based sessions for developing prompts for large language models (LLMs).” The “prompt-a-thon process reframes prompting as a high-impact diagnostic and design discipline—engineered for fast, actionable insight,” explains Estrada. “It’s not just about using AI more effectively—it’s about thinking and collaborating more intelligently with it,” adds Schrage. 

MIT researchers have found that ChatGPT use can lead to a decline in cognitive engagement, reports Robert B. Tucker for Forbes. “Brain regions associated with attention, memory, and higher-ordered reasoning were noticeably less active” in study participants, Tucker explains.

Researchers at MIT have found that the use of ChatGPT can “reduce activity in brain regions associated with memory and learning,” reports Eve Upton-Clark for Fast Company. “ChatGPT users felt less ownership over their essays compared to the other groups,” writes Upton-Clark. “They also struggled to recall or quote from their own essays shortly after submitting them—showing how reliance on the LLM bypassed deep memory processes.” 

Researchers at MIT have found that “people who used ChatGPT to write a series of essays suffered a ‘cognitive cost’ compared to others who used only their brains or a traditional search engine,” reports Ross Cristantiello for Boston.com. “The researchers found that as users relied on ‘external support’ more and more, their brain connectivity gradually scaled down,” explains Cristantiello. “Subjects who began the tests using ChatGPT before being told to use only their brains showed ‘weaker neural connectivity’ and ‘under-engagement’ of certain networks in their brains.”  

A study by MIT researchers finds that individuals who relied solely on ChatGPT to write essays had "lower levels of brain activity and presented less original writing,” reports Greta Cross for USA Today. "While these tools offer unprecedented opportunities for enhancing learning and information access, their potential impact on cognitive development, critical thinking and intellectual independence demands a very careful consideration and continued research," the researchers explain.

Noman Bashir, a fellow with the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium and a postdoc at CSAIL, speaks with Wired reporter Molly Taft about AI and energy consumption. Bashir explains that how quickly a model answers a question has a big impact on its energy use. “The goal is to provide all of this inference the quickest way possible so that you don’t leave their platform,” Bashir says. “If ChatGPT suddenly starts giving you a response after five minutes, you will go to some other tool that is giving you an immediate response.”

Prof. Daniela Rus, director of CSAIL, speaks with Newsweek reporter Marni Rose McFall about the impact of AI on entry level jobs. “We need a strong pipeline of talent that starts with entry-level roles, internships, and hands-on learning opportunities," says Rus. "These early experiences remain essential stepping stones, helping people build technical confidence, domain fluency, and problem-solving skills. And soon, the skills companies will be looking for in entry-level workers is how well they can make the most of AI tools."

Vijay Gadepally, a senior scientist at MIT Lincoln Lab, discusses users can help conserve energy while using AI tools, reports Nicolás Rivero for The Washington Post. Gadepally notes that users can save energy by asking the AI to be concise when you don’t need long answers, as models use more energy for each word they process. “People often mistake these things as having some sort of sentience,” says Gadepally. “You don’t need to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ It’s okay. They don’t mind.”