Thinking With, Not Instead Of – Why ChatGPT Won’t Make You Dumber
A recent MIT study warned that using ChatGPT might lead to "cognitive atrophy" — a weakening of critical thinking, reflection, and metacognitive skills. Suddenly, headlines exploded:
"ChatGPT is making people dumber."
"AI is hurting our brains."
"Using ChatGPT kills cognition."
But that’s not the whole story — especially for ADHD learners.
As a therapist, educator, and ADHD specialist — and someone with ADHD myself — I’d like to offer a different perspective. One that comes from decades of watching students struggle with executive function, writing paralysis, and burnout — and also from watching some of them thrive, once they had the right tools, mindset, and guidance.
The Nonspecific Amplifier — What That Means for ADHD
In emerging therapies using ketamine, psilocybin, or MDMA, we use the phrase “nonspecific amplifier.”
It means this: the tool doesn’t fix you. It amplifies what’s already present — your mindset, your blind spots, your strengths, your habits.
ChatGPT is the same. It doesn’t make you smarter. It doesn’t make you dumber.
It reflects and amplifies the quality of the thinking you bring to it.
Come to it with laziness? It will reinforce laziness.
Come to it with curiosity? It will open doors.
Come to it with a poorly formed question? It will spin confusion into confident-sounding mush.
Come to it with an insight you're still shaping? It will help you test, iterate, and refine.
Product vs. Process — and Why It Matters for ADHD Brains
Here’s what the MIT study missed: it measured the product, but not the process.
Yes, ChatGPT helped participants generate usable outputs faster — and yes, when they were later tested on logic tasks, they performed worse than those who had written from scratch. But that doesn’t prove the tool caused the deficit. It only shows they didn’t engage deeply with the thinking process.
This happens everywhere. A student copies a paper from a friend. A professional reuses a stale PowerPoint. A teacher downloads a worksheet they’ve never read.
Shortcuts are everywhere. But AI isn’t the problem. Skipping the process is.
For many ADHD learners, ChatGPT doesn’t remove the thinking process — it supports it. When used well, it helps externalize working memory, test ideas safely, scaffold transitions, or break writer’s block. These students aren’t skipping steps. They’re finally accessing the ones they couldn’t reach before.
Research on ADHD and executive function confirms that external scaffolding can significantly improve task initiation, working memory, and planning (Barkley, 2012).
Real-Life Amplifiers — and How ADHD Users Respond
We’re all already surrounded by nonspecific amplifiers — and their impact depends on how we use them.
Caffeine – Enhances alertness for task engagement | Intensifies anxiety or overfocus
Group work – Boosts energy, creativity, accountability | Triggers overwhelm or avoidance
Time pressure – Sparks urgency, narrows attention | Causes shutdown or panic
Music – Calms or energizes based on preference | Distracts or overstimulates if mismatched
Open-book tests – Supports memory limits, encourages application | Enables surface-level cramming
ChatGPT fits right in. It amplifies mindset, context, skill, and intention.
So when we treat it like a shortcut — “Just have the bot do it!” — we get shallow thinking.
When we treat it like a thinking partner — “Let’s wrestle with this together” — we get growth.
You Are the Author. AI Is the Amplifier.
In my work with ADHD students, we teach a core principle:
You are the author. AI is the amplifier.
That means you’re still responsible for:
- Asking the deeper question
- Revising the messy draft
- Owning your voice
- Deciding what to keep and what to discard
ChatGPT can suggest. Challenge. Mirror. Provoke. But it can’t own the outcome. That’s yours.
So let’s stop asking whether ChatGPT is “good” or “bad.” That’s like asking whether a guitar is dangerous. Or whether glasses are unfair.
The better question is:
Are we teaching learners to use this amplifier with creativity, integrity, and critical thought?
How ADHD Learners Can Use ChatGPT to Grow — Not Just Get By
Used well, ChatGPT doesn’t bypass growth — it accelerates it.
Not just by improving the final product, but by strengthening the thinking process that leads to it.
When ADHD students engage with AI intentionally, reflectively, and iteratively, it can help them:
- Strengthen executive function — by organizing thoughts, sequencing ideas, externalizing working memory, and structuring tasks in manageable steps
- Amplify metacognition — by turning invisible processes (like self-questioning or mental rehearsal) into visible drafts they can inspect, revise, and learn from
- Improve critical thinking — not by handing over the answer, but by offering a space to test arguments, challenge assumptions, and refine logic in real time
These aren’t shortcuts to polished results.
They’re scaffolds for building better mental habits.
When we focus on process over product, we stop asking “Did the bot do it?”
And we start asking, “Did the learner grow through it?”
Sidebar: What the Research Says About ADHD and Cognitive Tools
- ADHD learners often struggle not with knowing what to do, but with initiating and sequencing action — especially in open-ended tasks. (Barkley, 2012)
- Metacognition and self-monitoring are executive functions that can be supported through visual or conversational tools — including AI writing aids. (Dawson & Guare, 2010)
- ChatGPT may serve as an “externalized working memory,” allowing ADHD learners to offload mental steps while staying engaged with meaning and structure. (Author interpretation)
And Here’s the Good News
If you bring curiosity, honesty, and purpose to the keyboard, this tool will help you grow.
If you don’t, it will echo back the shortcuts you already take.
But the power stays with you.