ChatGPT and other AI chatbots are replacing the search engine. The gist of their experiments went like this: the participants were told to learn about a topic, and were randomly assigned to either only use an AI chatbot like ChatGPT to do their research, or a standard search engine like Google. At the end, the participants were asked to write advice to a friend about what they learned. Another study linked students who heavily relied on ChatGPT to memory loss and tanking grades. “One of the most fundamental principles of skill development is that people learn best when they are actively engaged with the material they are trying to learn,” Melumad explained.