Is AI making me dumber?
“Cogito, ergo sum” or “I think, therefore I am” was made famous by the French philosopher René Descartes. He believed that the act of doubting one’s own existence proved that one’s mind was real (gulp!).
Hot on the heels of “Neuroscience and Decision Making” last week, the latest variant on this struck a chord with me.
We all have a newfound love of Generative AI and LLMs, right?
My experience is that each of us tends to fall into one of three categories in our approach to ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, DeepSeek et al.
- Fully embracing their use at every opportunity, irrespective of domain
- Selective usage for specific problems and questions
- Rare/Zero usage, possibly not even featuring in the daily thought process
I have no value judgment on any of these choices, conscious or unconscious, but this topic does relate to the key question of the week.
Do you ever find that you receive AI generated narrative content that demonstrates that the “author” has applied no real review or critical analysis before sharing?
According to research, only 36% of regular GenAI users claim to actively apply critical thinking skills to the responses they get to their prompts.
I would hazard a guess that this percentage may be generous due to the natural cognitive bias in responding to surveys about one’s own critical faculties!
I now find myself subconsciously identifying, or classifying, the provenance of material I receive. The judgment of whether it has been produced by GenAI can be due to specific credit/attribution by the author(?) or just implied by the tone, style and content.
Is it just me?
BTW, what is the word for an originator that is not the “author”? 😉
For my own part, I find I have to really focus to critically analyse generated content for important topics.
The problem has been gnawing away in my mind.
I am seeing more prolific, almost Shakespearean, narratives cross my screen, and I am always questioning where the critical thinking has been applied.
I read “Overreliance On AI At Work Can Weaken Critical Thinking: Study” first in BW Businessworld.
This led me to “AI Is Making You Dumber, Microsoft Researchers Say” by Dimitar ‘Mix’ Mihov in Forbes.
It turns out that smart people are researching this problem!
A recent study from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University suggests that when employees rely too heavily on AI-generated outputs, they lose opportunities to practice independent problem-solving, which can become a self-reinforcing habit . . . .
“AI tools appear to reduce the perceived effort required for critical thinking tasks among knowledge workers, especially when they have higher confidence in AI capabilities,” the researchers write.
“A key irony of automation is that by mechanising routine tasks and leaving exception-handling to the human user, you deprive the user of the routine opportunities to practice their judgement and strengthen their cognitive musculature, leaving them atrophied and unprepared when the exceptions do arise,” the researchers explain.
The dispute over whether technology is making us dumber is nothing new, of course. The introduction of calculators in Maths classes caused a frenzy back in the day.
It seems AI is similarly making us lazier thinkers, which — as Microsoft’s study points out — is making us think we’re also getting dumber . . . .
Starting to get a bit abstract and metaphysical now. I better have a lie down . . . 😉
Whilst this is an important concern, it should not deter us from making the most, and best, use of Generative AI.
We just need to encourage the habits of the Humans In The Loop (HITL).
Once again, in the world of AI, is seems that HITL is King, Queen and Crown Prince(ss) . . .
Keep exercising that cognitive musculature!
Is AI Making Me Dumber?
That’s up to me . . .
Thanks for reading . . . .
