Researchers from Texas A&M, the University of Texas and Purdue University have introduced the “LLM brain rot hypothesis,” suggesting that continual pre‑training on low‑quality web text can cause lasting cognitive decline in large language models. Their pre‑print paper analyzes a HuggingFace dataset of 100 million tweets, separating “junk” tweets—identified by high engagement yet short length or superficial, click‑bait content—from higher‑quality samples. Early results show a 76 percent agreement between automated classifications and graduate‑student evaluations, highlighting the potential risks of indiscriminate data ingestion for AI systems. Read more →