Generative AI (Gen AI) tools like ChatGPT have become an ever-present part of many people’s personal and working lives. And whether they are causing more harm than good to our cognitive skills or problem solving is a growing concern. Experts are worried that dependence on Gen AI is making users who lean heavily on these tools “dumber,” according to research findings.
In a recent paper, a team from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University found that “higher confidence in Gen AI is associated with less critical thinking, while higher self-confidence is associated with more critical thinking” amongst a group of 319 knowledge workers from a wide range of fields.
Their findings showed that while Gen AI tools can improve efficiency at work, they may also “inhibit critical engagement with work and can potentially lead to long-term overreliance on the tool and diminished skill for independent problem-solving.”
Decline in Critical Thinking Skills
This declining “analytical engagement” translates to less fact-checking, and more time reading through AI-generated text rather than creating content, amongst more.
