Are the Internet and AI affecting our memory? What the science says

3 min read Original article ↗
  • NEWS FEATURE

Search engines, GPS maps and other tech can alter our ability to learn and remember. Now scientists are working out what AI might do.

Conceptual illustration showing a stylised human figure looking at a mobile phone.

Illustration: Ada Zielińska

Adrian Ward had been driving confidently around Austin, Texas, for nine years — until last November, when he started getting lost. Ward’s phone had been acting up, and Apple Maps had stopped working. Suddenly, Ward couldn’t even find his way to the home of a good friend, making him realize how much he’d relied on the technology in the past. “I just instinctively put on the map and do what it says,” he says.

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Nature 638, 26-28 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00292-z

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