5 min read//
AI has become central to much of what we do, but as we rely on it more, we are bleeding related skills.
Just as calculators made memorizing multiplication tables feel unnecessary, smartphones have rendered cursive practically obsolete, and services like Lyft and Uber have led many young people to skip learning to drive.
Now, with AI, the implication is we don’t really need to think, and that’s a problem. We do need to think critically. Otherwise, we risk becoming dependent on those who feed us their version of the truth, and that likely won’t end well.
Let’s talk about the risks of outsourcing too much thinking to AI — and we’ll close with my Product of the Week: a new hybrid ceramic line from Mother’s to keep your car looking shiny and new for summer get-togethers and car shows.
The Siren Song of Convenience Weakens Thinking
The allure of AI is undeniable. It drafts emails, summarizes lengthy reports, generates code snippets, and even whips up images faster than you can say “neural network.”
This unprecedented convenience, however, carries a subtle but potent risk. A study from MIT has highlighted concerns that overuse of AI tools might be degrading our thinking capabilities.
That degradation is the digital equivalent of using a GPS so much that you forget how to read a map. Suddenly, your internal compass points vaguely toward convenience and not much else. When we offload critical cognitive tasks entirely to AI, our muscles for those tasks can begin to atrophy, leading to cognitive offloading.
Why fact-check if the AI “knows?” Why brainstorm if it can generate a list of ideas in seconds? Why labor over a perfect sentence when the AI can spit out a passable one? Our brains, being inherently lazy (or rather, efficient), are all too eager to take the path of least resistance. This outsourcing of thinking can lead to a decline in analytical skills, critical judgment, and creative problem-solving. We become proficient at prompting, but perhaps less so at thinking.
Rx for Smarter AI Use: Engage, Don’t Abdicate
So, how do we harness the immense power of AI without turning our cognitive gears into rusty relics? The answer lies in engagement, not abdication. Think of AI as a supremely talented intern, not your replacement.
Keep in mind that, like any intern, AI needs supervision, guidance, and a sharp eye on the final product. That means staying mentally present — not just delegating and hoping for the best.
Aggressive Editing, Proofreading, and Fact-Checking
Treat AI-generated content like a highly caffeinated first draft — full of energy but possibly a little messy and prone to making things up. Your job isn’t to simply hit “generate” and walk away, unless you enjoy explaining AI hallucinations or factual inaccuracies to your boss. Or worse, your audience. Always, always, aggressively edit, proofread, and, most critically, fact-check every single output.
This process isn’t just about catching AI’s mistakes; it actively engages your critical thinking skills, forcing you to verify information and refine expression. Think of it as intellectual calisthenics.
Iterative Prompt Engineering and Refinement
Don’t settle for the first answer AI gives you. Engage in a dialogue. Refine your prompts, ask follow-up questions, request different perspectives, and challenge its assumptions. This iterative process of refinement forces you to think more clearly about your own needs, to be precise in your instructions, and to critically evaluate the nuances of the AI’s response.
Become a collaborator, not just a consumer. It’s like sculpting. The first block of marble isn’t the masterpiece; it’s the careful chiseling that reveals the art.
Pick Your AI Wingman Wisely
The AI landscape is no longer a monolithic entity; it’s a bustling bazaar of diverse models, each with its strengths and quirks. Using the right tool for the right job is crucial to avoid “AI-induced brain fog.”
AI for Brainstorming and Idea Generation
Large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini, are fantastic for divergent thinking, breaking creative blocks, and exploring a wide array of possibilities.
How to use smartly: Treat their output as a mere springboard. Challenge their ideas, combine multiple AI-generated concepts with your own unique insights, and push for truly novel angles that the AI might miss. Don’t just take the first list they spit out; ask for variations, contradictions, or unexpected connections.
AI for Drafting and Summarization
Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic Claude excel at generating first drafts, summarizing lengthy documents, or condensing complex information.
How to use smartly: Critically evaluate conciseness, tone, and, most importantly, factual accuracy. Rewrite sections in your own voice and style, and never, ever pass off an AI summary as your own without meticulously verifying every summarized point. Consider the summary as a prompt for your own deeper understanding.
AI for Coding Assistance
Tools like GitHub Copilot and Gemini Code Assist can significantly accelerate development, catch syntax errors, and even suggest entire code blocks.
How to use smartly: Understand why the AI suggests a particular solution. Debug manually, learn the underlying logic, and actively strive to improve your coding skills by analyzing the generated code. Mindlessly copying and pasting code without understanding it is a fast track to becoming a human debugging unit.
AI for Research and Information Gathering
AI-powered search tools like Perplexity AI can quickly synthesize responses from vast data sources, delivering direct answers rather than just a list of links.
How to use smartly: Always cross-reference information with human-verified sources. Evaluate the credibility of the sources AI uses. Use AI to find information efficiently, but never let it replace your own critical analysis and synthesis of that information. Think of it as a super-powered librarian, not a substitute for scholarly review.
AI for Creative Generation
Models like Midjourney, Imagen, and Sora can generate stunning visuals, text, and even audio from simple prompts.
How to use smartly: Use AI to augment your creativity, not replace it. Understand that AI models have inherent biases from their training data. Develop your own artistic eye when prompting, and use the AI to experiment with styles, concepts, or iterations that you might not have envisioned on your own.
AI for Specialized Tasks
Domain-specific AIs for medical, legal, and financial fields can provide professionals with powerful insights and analysis.
How to use smartly: Human expertise remains paramount. Always verify AI outputs with your professional judgment and be mindful of each tool’s limitations and ethical implications. Common examples include AI used in medical diagnosis, legal research, and financial forecasting.
Maintain Your Analytical Edge
The real risk isn’t AI taking over our jobs; it’s us letting AI take over our brains. To maintain your analytical edge, continuously challenge yourself. Practice skills that AI complements but doesn’t replace, such as critical thinking, complex problem-solving, nuanced synthesis, ethical judgment, and genuine human creativity.
Remember, calculators didn’t eliminate mathematicians, and spellcheck didn’t eliminate the need for good writers. AI simply changes how we do things, shifting the focus towards higher-order cognitive skills. It frees us from the mundane, allowing us to spend more time on the interesting and uniquely human aspects of our work. Don’t let your gray matter gather digital dust.
Wrapping Up: Use AI to Enhance, Not Replace, Your Mind
The MIT study serves as a crucial wake-up call that over-reliance on AI can indeed make us “stupid” by atrophying our critical thinking skills.
However, the solution isn’t to shun AI, but to engage with it intelligently and responsibly. By aggressively editing, proofreading, and fact-checking AI outputs, and by iteratively refining prompts, and strategically choosing the right AI tool for each task, we can ensure AI serves as a powerful enhancer, not a detrimental crutch.
The future isn’t about humans vs. AI; it’s about humans with AI. The imperative is clear: use your AI, but don’t lose your sense of perspective in the process. Your intellectual muscle mass depends on it.
Ren Ecosystem