PUCMM study reveals ChatGPT dependence affects critical thinking in university students

“The more we depend on AI, the more we procrastinate. These tools allow us to postpone tasks,” said the author of the study, Dr. Jairo Espinal. Santo Domingo. – A study presented by the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) during PUCMM Research Week 2025 revealed that the dependence on artificial intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, can increase academic procrastination and, indirectly, weaken the critical thinking of university students. The research, entitled "ChatGPT Generation: age, sex and academic stage as predictors of the relationship between AI and critical thinking", indicates that the dependence on AI has a negative and significant global impact on critical thinking, mediated by procrastination. The study, which is in its preliminary phase and developed by the School of Psychology of PUCMM, was conducted with a sample of 416 Dominican university students, with a mean age of 27 years. The results showed that older students tend to procrastinate less and maintain a more stable critical thinking.

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"Students might have the ease of not doing. Critical thinking requires effort, and the tool makes it easier to avoid it. This may explain the phenomenon of procrastination," explained Dr. Jairo Espinal Martínez, professor at the School of Psychology at PUCMM and lead author of the study. He added that the male sex was associated with higher levels of academic procrastination. "The ChatGPT Generation does not lose its critical thinking by using artificial intelligence, but when it delegates personal cognitive effort to technology. The impact of AI depends on the degree of self-regulation and conscious use that students make of it," said the researcher during his presentation at the PUCMM Research Week 2025, which this year carries the motto "Artificial Intelligence: transforming lives, driving societies." Dr. Espinal announced that he is currently working on expanding the study, with the aim of exceeding 1,000 participants and delving into the patterns of relationship between technological dependence, procrastination, and critical thinking. "This will allow us to identify which student profiles tend to rely more on AI and procrastinate more frequently," he concluded.