Checking Gen AI content for accuracy
Guiding principle 4 for using Generative AI (GenAI):
GenAI is a tool, not a replacement for your own judgement. Always check GenAI content for accuracy and relevance.
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GenAI is a tool, not a replacement for your own judgement. Always:
- Cross-check GenAI outputs against trusted academic sources
- Evaluate for bias, relevance, and accuracy
- Think critically and make decisions yourself
Think before you generate: How Gen AI tools might affect your thinking
As you begin using GenAI tools to help with academic work, it's worth considering how they might shape the way you think. A recent study from Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Media Lab found that repeated use of GenAI can have a negative impact on cognitive function. Students who used these tools to write essays showed lower brain activity, struggled more with memory recall, and felt less connected to their own work - compared to peers who used non-AI digital tools or none at all. The researchers introduced the idea of "cognitive debt," where overreliance on AI gradually weakens your ability to think independently. Strikingly, even after these students stopped using AI, their cognitive performance didn’t fully bounce back (Kos’myna et al., 2025).*
Before turning to GenAI for your next assignment, ask yourself: could this tool be helping - or hindering - your learning?
*Reference: Kos’myna, N., Wu, S., Zhao, R., Liao, Q. V., Picard, R. W., & Maes, P. (2025). Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant for essay writing task. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.08872