Generative AI's power sparks fears of humans becoming dumber

The widespread availability of generative AI chatbots, capable of tasks from writing emails to coding and translation, is raising concerns about the potential decline of human cognitive abilities. Services like ChatGPT and Claude offer quick, usable responses to complex prompts, impacting education, workplaces, and personal lives.

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These findings are particularly concerning because persistence is foundational to skill acquisition and is one of the strongest predictors of long-term learning.

Recent scientific studies suggest that outsourcing cognitive tasks to AI could have detrimental effects. Research highlights memory, decision-making, and critical thinking as particularly vulnerable areas. An ongoing American-British study of 1,222 participants found that while AI tools improved short-term performance in arithmetic and reading comprehension, they diminished long-term results and reduced willingness to persevere when the tools were unavailable.

"These findings are particularly concerning because persistence is foundational to skill acquisition and is one of the strongest predictors of long-term learning," the study's authors noted. Grace Liu, a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University and lead author of an article on the subject, stated that AI's ability to provide rapid answers "removes learning opportunities" for users. She emphasized that AI's broad applicability across intellectual and reasoning activities makes it uniquely concerning compared to previous technological aids.

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AI’s ability to conjure up speedy responses to all kinds of questions “removes learning opportunities” from users.

Further research, including a 2025 MIT study, indicated that students using generative AI for essays showed reduced critical thinking skills. This phenomenon, termed "cognitive offloading" or "cognitive surrender," aligns with a natural human tendency to conserve mental energy. Johann Chevalere, a researcher at France's CNRS institution, explained that people often seek quicker strategies, even if it means not engaging deeply with information, as in-depth processing can be cognitively demanding. Generative AI could exacerbate this tendency, potentially leading to the underutilization of brain functions if certain cognitive activities are consistently avoided.

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Human beings have a strong tendency to save energy.