Chatbot "Brains" May Slow with Age

Artificial intelligence (AI) programs start to show signs of mild cognitive impairment as they grow older, a new study published Dec. 20 in the journal the BMJ says.

“Not only are neurologists unlikely to be replaced by large language models any time soon, but our findings suggest that they may soon find themselves treating new, virtual patients -- artificial intelligence models presenting with cognitive impairment,” wrote a research team led by Dr. Roy Dayan, a neurologist with Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

For this study, researchers assessed the cognitive abilities of the leading publicly available AI programs, which are also called “large language models [LLMs].”

AI is being tested for its ability to help in medical treatment, but “if we are to rely on LLMs for medical diagnosis and care, we must examine their susceptibility to human impairments such as cognitive decline,” researchers wrote in a journal news release.

The AI programs responded to questions from the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test, a standard test used to check for signs of brain aging and early dementia in seniors.

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