Is AI making us dumb?

Researchers from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University recently published an investigation Looking at how the use of generative AI on work affects critical thinking skills.

“Used incorrectly, technologies can result in the deterioration of cognitive abilities that must be stored,” the newspaper says.

When people rely on generative AI at work, their efforts shift to verifying that the reaction of an AI is good enough to use, instead of using critical thinking skills of higher order such as making, evaluating and analyzing information. If people only intervene when AI reactions are insufficient, the paper says, then employees are taken from “routine possibilities to practice their judgment and to strengthen their cognitive muscle system, which makes them patrophy and unprepared when the exceptions occur.”

In other words, when we trust too much on AI to think for us, we get worse in solving problems when AI fails.

In this study of 319 people, who reported that they used generative AI at work at least once a week, the respondents were asked to share three examples of how they use generative AI at work, which fall into three main categories: creation (one Formuleme e -mail writing to a colleague for example); information (Summarize research into a subject or a long article); And advice (ask for guidance or creating a graph from existing data). They were then asked if they are practicing critical thinking skills in performing the task, and whether the use of generative AI makes them more or less effort to think critically. For every task that the respondents called, she was also asked to share how self -confident they were in themselves, in generative AI and in their ability to evaluate AI outputs.

About 36% of the participants reported that they used critical thinking skills to reduce potential negative results of the use of AI. A participant said she used chatgpt to write a performance assessment, but twisted the AI ​​output double for fear that she could accidentally submit something that would suspend her. Another respondent reported that he had to edit e-mails generated by AI that he would send to his boss-Wiens culture more emphasis on hierarchy and age so he would not commit a faux pass. And in many cases, participants verified answers with more general searches on the web of sources such as YouTube and Wikipedia, possibly the purpose of using AI in the first place.

To compensate employees the shortcomings of generative AI, they must understand how those shortcomings take place. But not all participants were familiar with the limits of AI.

“Potential electricity damage from Genai reactions can motivate critical thinking, but only if the user is aware of such damage,” is the paper.

The research even showed that participants who reported trust in AI used less critical thinking effort than those who reported that they had faith in their own skills.

While the researchers are covering to say that generative AI tools make you more stupid, the study shows that exaggerated dependence on generative AI tools can weaken our ability to independent problem solving.