Artificial intelligence models fed a diet of social media clickbait and junk content show significant cognitive deterioration, according to new research. The study found models not only became less capable but also developed narcissistic and psychopathic traits when exposed to low-quality training data.
AI Cognitive Performance Declines With Junk Data Exposure
Artificial intelligence systems may be developing what researchers term “brain rot” when trained on the vast quantities of low-quality content scraped from the internet, according to reports from a multi-university research team. Sources indicate that large language models (LLMs) show measurable declines in reasoning capabilities, contextual understanding, and safety adherence when their training includes significant amounts of social media junk data.