A leading neuroscientist has spoken out about the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), the constant phone use of modern society and how it all impacts the brain.
TJ Power, who is an author, speaker and neuroscientist, appeared on the Life Uncut Podcast where he revealed some shocking statistics about the scrolling epidemic and how much time people waste on their mobile phones.
“The average person right now is on track to scroll for about 18 years of their life,” he said on the podcast.
“I have this genuine fear… that there’ll be many people that lie in their end-of-life period and actually have a genuine regret for how much they spent on their phone,” he added.
“I think people will feel it.”
Speaking about how people are relying more and more on AI, whether for work or personal use, Power said our brains are impacted the most.
“If you start even outsourcing your feelings… there’s one study that found when people are using ChatGPT in order to try and execute a specific task, you have 64 per cent less activation in your prefrontal cortex.
“Basically, your brain’s just not having to think as hard, which makes total sense. It isn’t having to think as hard.”
“It’s alright for now, but if you do that for five or ten years and you outsource everything… we can lose thinking, feeling and creativity and they are big, beautiful things in the human experience.”
It comes after actor and Hollywood star Andrew Garfield revealed why he quit using ChatGPT after playing OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman in new movie Artificial.
“I got a bit scared,” Garfield told Variety, noting his concern regarding the lack of scepticism that surrounds the fast evolution of technology.
“I felt a little mistrusting of the technology. It feels like the people who are encouraging us to use the technologies don’t exactly know its capacities themselves.
“Luckily, I don’t need [ChatGPT] in my life in the same way that other people in other industries might,” Garfield added.
“As an actor, I was using it as a kind of fancy Google for some research purposes. I know that it’s not what it’s meant for.”
It’s said up to 350million people around the world use AI tools daily.
Five million Aussies use AI tools daily, it’s said.