Completely handing cognitive work to AI can hinder learning because people lose the practice needed to build skills. Credit: Pexels.
The worry of becoming stupid isn't new; it dates back to the time of the Greek philosopher Socrates, who insisted that writing would destroy memory and weaken the mind. Then came calculators, GPS and computers, all of which again raised concerns that we might forget basic mental skills and lose the battle against cognitive offloading. Cognitive offloading is the act of reducing mental effort by using external tools or aids to handle tasks that have historically relied solely on memory or internal processing. A similar sentiment is being observed with the advent of AI.
A group of researchers set out to investigate an important question: Is AI making us stupid? To find the answer, they reviewed the existing scientific evidence on how using AI to perform mental tasks affects our brains and, particularly, our skills.
The answer is "yes" and "no." What they found was that the impact of AI depends largely on how we use it—whether we use it as a replacement for thinking or as a partner to accomplish our work.
For example, if someone asks an AI to solve a math problem instead of working through it themselves, they miss out on the practice needed to build that skill. Similarly, using AI to summarize information often leads people to put less effort into learning, so they tend to remember less of what they learn as AI is left to handle the hard work of searching, organizing and assessing information.
