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A group of researchers from across the US and the UK have conducted a study on what AI does to our brains and the results are, in a word, grim. These results were published in a paper called "AI assistance reduces persistence and hurts independent performance" which kind of tells you everything you need to know.
"We find that AI assistance improves immediate performance, but it comes at a heavy cognitive cost," the study declares. Researchers went on to state that just ten minutes of using AI made people dependent on the technology, which led to worsening performance and burnout once the tools were removed.
The study followed people who use AI for "reasoning-intensive" cognitive labor. This refers to stuff like writing, coding and brainstorming new ideas, which are some of the most common use cases.
The researchers recruited 350 Americans, who were asked to complete some fraction-based equations. Half of the participants were randomly granted access to a specialized chatbot built on OpenAI's GPT-5 for help and the others had to go it alone. Halfway through the exam, the AI group had their access cut off.
This led to a steep decline in correct answers by the AI group and many instances of people simply giving up. This result, in which performance and perseverance both dropped, was repeated in a larger experiment with 670 people. Finally, the scientists performed one final experiment with reading comprehension questions, and not math. The results were more of the same.
"Once the AI is taken away from people, it's not that people are just giving wrong answers. They're also not willing to try without AI," Rachit Dubey, an assistant professor at the University of California and coauthor of the study,
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 Apple is sending a large portion of its Siri engineers to a multi-week bootcamp to learn to code using AI, reports The Information. Apple's decision to teach its programmers to better use AI for coding comes just two months before Apple is expected to unveil a smarter, more capable version of Siri at WWDC.
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For PlayStation Plus subscribers, April is going to be a little bit spooky, a tad sporty and extra squirrelly. PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium players will get access to The Crew Motorfest, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, Football Manager 26 Console, Warriors: Abyss, Squirrel with a Gun, The Casting of Frank Stone and Monster Train. Additionally,Wild Arms 4 will be exclusive to Premium libraries. Expect the full lineup to go live on April 21.
The Crew Motorfest, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, Warriors: Abyss and Wild Arms 4 will hit PS4 and PS5 consoles, while the rest of the month's additions are PS5 only. In the case of Horizon, PS4 players will receive Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition, rather than the PS5 remaster.
Horizon, The Crew and Football Manager are self-explanatory at this point in gaming history, but here's a quick rundown of the more underground titles on April's list: Warriors: Abyss is a hectic hack-and-slash roguelite from Koei Tecmo; Squirrel with a Gun is a silly yet competent third-person shooter from a two-man indie team; Monster Train is a much-loved demonic deckbuilder from Shiny Shoe and Good Shepherd Entertainment; and Wild Arms 4 is a PS2-era RPG from Japanese studio Media.Vision.
The Casting of Frank Stone is what PlayStation Plus was ma
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Amazon's satellite-based internet service, Leo, will enter service by mid-2026, so says company CEO Andy Jassy. Writing in his annual letter, Jassy claimed Leo would offer download speeds of up to 1Gbps, far more than what Starlink presently offers. Sadly, Amazon declined to offer any more details about what that mid-2026 service would look like. But given select partners have already been kicking Leo's tyres for a while, we can only hope.
The mega-retailer is making some grand promises, including faster up and download speeds, cheaper cost and direct integration with Amazon's other products. Of course, the company can also sell itself on the fact it's a satellite internet provider not owned by Elon Musk. But it will have to buck its ideas up fast, given how far behind in its deployment of satellites it is.
— Daniel Cooper
The other big stories this morning
Dyson just announced its first-ever handheld fan, with a motor that spins up to 65,000 RPM
Don't put your finger in it.
JBL Live 780NC and 680NC review: Great leaps, greater missteps
As the youth say, ‘mid.'
Sony teases its next-gen True RGB Mini LED TV technology
Yet another brand name to sully the Mini LED waters.
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