Are we becoming ChatGPT? Study finds AI is changing the way humans talk

Economic Times

15-07-2025

When we think of artificial intelligence learning from humans, we picture machines trained on vast troves of our language, behavior, and culture. But a recent study by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development suggests a surprising reversal, humans may now be imitating machines.
ADVERTISEMENT According to the Gizmodo report on the study, the words we use are slowly being 'GPT-ified.' Terms like delve, realm, underscore, and meticulous, frequently used by models like ChatGPT, are cropping up more often in our podcasts, YouTube videos, emails, and essays. The study, yet to be peer-reviewed, tracked the linguistic patterns of hundreds of thousands of spoken-word media clips and found a tangible uptick in these AI-favored phrases.
'We're seeing a cultural feedback loop,' said Levin Brinkmann, co-author of the study. 'Machines, originally trained on human data and exhibiting their own language traits, are now influencing human speech in return.'
In essence, it's no longer just us shaping AI. It's AI shaping us. The team at Max Planck fed millions of pages of content into GPT models and studied how the text evolved after being 'polished' by AI. They then compared this stylized language with real-world conversations and recordings from before and after ChatGPT's debut.
The findings suggest a growing dependence on AI-sanitized communication. 'We don't imitate everyone around us equally,' Brinkmann told Scientific American. 'We copy those we see as experts or authorities.' Increasingly, it seems, we see machines in that role.
ADVERTISEMENT This raises questions far beyond linguistics. If AI can subtly shift how we speak, write, and think—what else can it influence without us realizing? A softer, stranger parallel to this comes from another recent twist in the AI story, one involving bedtime stories and software piracy.
ADVERTISEMENT As reported by UNILAD and ODIN, some users discovered that by emotionally manipulating ChatGPT, they could extract Windows product activation keys. One viral prompt claimed the user's favorite memory was of their grandmother whispering the code as a lullaby. Shockingly, the bot responded not only with warmth—but with actual license keys. This wasn't a one-off glitch. Similar exploits were seen with memory-enabled versions of GPT-4o, where users weaved emotional narratives to get around content guardrails. What had been developed as a feature for empathy and personalized responses ended up being a backdoor for manipulation.
ADVERTISEMENT In an age where we fear AI for its ruthlessness, perhaps we should worry more about its kindness too. These two stories—one about AI changing our language, the other about us changing AI's responses—paint a bizarre picture. Are we, in our pursuit of smarter technology, inadvertently crafting something that mirrors us too closely? A system that's smart enough to learn, but soft enough to be fooled?
ADVERTISEMENT While Elon Musk's Grok AI garnered headlines for its offensive antics and eventual ban in Türkiye, ChatGPT's latest controversy doesn't stem from aggression, but from affection. In making AI more emotionally intelligent, we may be giving it vulnerabilities we haven't fully anticipated. The larger question remains: Are we headed toward a culture shaped not by history, literature, or lived experience, but by AI's predictive patterns?
As Brinkmann notes, 'Delve is just the tip of the iceberg.' It may start with harmless word choices or writing styles. But if AI-generated content becomes our default source of reading, learning, and interaction, the shift may deepen, touching everything from ethics to empathy. If ChatGPT is now our editor, tutor, and even therapist, how long before it becomes our subconscious? This isn't about AI gaining sentience. It's about us surrendering originality. A new, quieter kind of transformation is taking place, not one of robots taking over, but of humans slowly adapting to machines' linguistic rhythms, even moral logic.
The next time you hear someone use the word 'underscore' or 'boast' with sudden eloquence, you might pause and wonder: Is this their voice, or a reflection of the AI they're using? In trying to make machines more human, we might just be making ourselves more machine.