Experts Concerned That AI Is Making Us Stupider
Artificial intelligence might be creeping its way into every facet of our lives — but that doesn't mean it's making us smarter.
Quite the reverse. A new analysis of recent research by The Guardian looked at a potential irony: whether we're giving up more than we gain by shoehorning AI into our day-to-day work, offloading so many intellectual tasks that it erodes our own cognitive abilities.
The analysis points to a number of studies that suggest a link between cognitive decline and AI tools, especially in critical thinking. One research article, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology — and itself run through ChatGPT to make "corrections," according to a disclaimer that we couldn't help but notice — suggests that regular use of AI may cause our actual cognitive chops and memory capacity to atrophy.
Another study, by Michael Gerlich of the Swiss Business School in the journal Societies, points to a link between "frequent AI tool usage and critical thinking abilities," highlighting what Gerlich calls the "cognitive costs of AI tool reliance."
The researcher uses an example of AI in healthcare, where automated systems make a hospital more efficient at the cost of full-time professionals whose job is "to engage in independent critical analysis" — to make human decisions, in other words.
None of that is as far-fetched as it sounds. A broad body of research has found that brain power is a "use it or lose it" asset, so it makes sense that turning to ChatGPT for everyday challenges like writing tricky emails, doing research, or solving problems would have negative results.
As humans offload increasingly complex problems onto various AI models, we also become prone to treating AI like a "magic box," a catch-all capable of doing all our hard thinking for us. This attitude is heavily pushed by the AI industry, which uses a blend of buzzy technical terms and marketing hype to sell us on ideas like "deep learning," "reasoning," and "artificial general intelligence."
Case in point, another recent study found that a quarter of Gen Zers believe AI is "already conscious." By scraping thousands of publicly available datapoints in seconds, AI chatbots can spit out seemingly thoughtful prose, which certainly gives the appearance of human-like sentience. But it's that exact attitude that experts warn is leading us down a dark path.
"To be critical of AI is difficult — you have to be disciplined," says Gerlich. "It is very challenging not to offload your critical thinking to these machines."
The Guardian's analysis also cautions against painting with too broad a brush and blaming AI, exclusively, for the decline in basic measures of intelligence. That phenomenon has plagued Western nations since the 1980s, coinciding with the rise of neoliberal economic policies that led governments in the US and UK to roll back funding for public schools, disempower teachers, and end childhood food programs.
Still, it's hard to deny stories from teachers that AI cheating is nearing crisis levels. AI might not have started the trend, but it may well be pushing it to grim new extremes.
More on AI: Columbia Student Kicked Out for Creating AI to Cheat, Raises Millions to Turn It Into a Startup
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Nvidia Teams Up With Startup Mistral as Part of European AI Push
(Bloomberg) -- Nvidia Corp. announced a raft of projects aimed at bolstering artificial-intelligence infrastructure across Europe, including an expanded partnership with French startup Mistral AI. Trump's Military Parade Has Washington Bracing for Tanks and Weaponry NY Long Island Rail Service Resumes After Grand Central Fire NYC Mayoral Candidates All Agree on Building More Housing. But Where? Senator Calls for Closing Troubled ICE Detention Facility in New Mexico California Pitches Emergency Loans for LA, Local Transit Systems Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang made the announcements during a joint Nvidia-VivaTech event in Paris, part of a globe-trotting campaign to promote the adoption of AI and his company's products. A data center buildout is needed in Europe to help countries there catch up in deploying the technology, he said. The chipmaker is trying to expand the market for AI accelerators — the processors used to develop and run artificial intelligence models. Nvidia is pushing for countries to deploy technology on a national level and trying to make it easier for individual companies to get the benefits from AI. In France, Nvidia will team up with Mistral to use local AI computing to run the startup's services. An offering called Mistral Compute will tap 18,000 new Grace Blackwell chips from Nvidia. It will be developed in Mistral's data center in Essonne, France, and the company plans to roll it out to other locations in Europe. In the UK, AI firms Nebius Group and Nscale Global Holdings Ltd. will use 'thousands' of such semiconductors for their own platforms. Other countries, including Italy and Armenia, also are installing new hardware, Nvidia said. In Europe, Nvidia is working with 1.5 million developers and 9,600 businesses, as well as 7,000 startups in what the company calls its inception program. 'The only thing that's missing is infrastructure,' Dion Harris, Nvidia's director of data center and high-performance computing, said in a briefing ahead of the presentations. Nvidia is working with cloud and telecommunications companies across Europe, he said. Europe has lagged behind the US in developing the infrastructure for AI and hasn't matched the spending promised in other regions. Huang said at an event in London on Monday with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer that a lack of infrastructure was holding back growth in a country that otherwise had the expertise and startups to be a global competitor in AI. Huang said at the GTC-VivaTech event that more than 20 so-called AI factories are being planned and built across Europe in the next two years, with 'several' of them being 'gigafactories.' The larger facilities will be home to over 100,000 chips. It calculates that AI hardware capacity in Europe will grow by three times next year. 'We will increase the amount of AI computing capacity in Europe by a factor of 10,' he said. Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia has transformed its fortunes over the last three years and now gets almost as much revenue per quarter as Intel Corp., its longtime nemesis, gets in a year. Much of that money come from AI accelerator chips, which are used by a cadre of giant companies to develop AI software and services. That group, which includes Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc., provides about half of Nvidia's total sales. The chipmaker is looking to reach a wider market by promoting the use of smaller-scale systems by companies and countries. Adding to a previous announcement, Nvidia said Inc.'s AWS, Mistral and others are joining the chipmaker's Lepton service, which helps connect AI developers with the computing hardware they need. Nvidia said that European countries need help to get AI models deployed that are based on local languages and data. It's providing software and services that will accelerate those efforts. Separately, Nvidia said that vehicles using its chips and software are starting to appear on the road — the result of years of work. Mercedes-Benz Group AG's CLA models and forthcoming vehicles from Volvo and Jaguar will rely on its Drive platform. --With assistance from Rachel Metz. New Grads Join Worst Entry-Level Job Market in Years The Spying Scandal Rocking the World of HR Software American Mid: Hampton Inn's Good-Enough Formula for World Domination Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert Wants to Donate His Billions—and Walk Again The SEC Pinned Its Hack on a Few Hapless Day Traders. The Full Story Is Far More Troubling ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Female entrepreneur ‘absolutely humiliated' after London Tech Week refuses entry for bringing baby
A female entrepreneur was left feeling 'absolutely humiliated' after she was refused entry to London Tech Week because she was with her 18-month-old daughter. Davina Schonle had travelled for three hours to get to the event at Olympia, where she planned to meet potential suppliers for her new start-up AI company. But on arrival on Monday, she said officials prevented her from entering with her daughter, Isabella, who was in a pram. The incident at the event, which was addressed by Sir Keir Starmer on the same day, has been widely condemned at a time when the tech industry tries to shake off its male-dominated tag. A recent report by Tech Nation showed that just 26 per cent of people in the UK tech industry were women, with more technical roles seeing an even wider gender gap. Writing on LinkedIn, Ms Schonle, aged 40, said: 'I hate that I'm having to write this, but today I was refused entry at London Tech Week… because I had my baby with me. 'It's a three-hour drive one way for me to come to London. At this stage, I limit how many hours I am away from my baby girl. This is about new environments for her as much as it is about me. I should be able to build my company with her by my side. 'As someone passionate about innovation, tech and the future of work, I was excited to attend, connect, have meetings and contribute. In today's age, shouldn't we be more inclusive? 'This moment was more than inconvenient. It was a clear reminder that, as a tech industry, we still have work to do when it comes to inclusion beyond buzzwords. 'Parents are part of this ecosystem. Caregivers are innovators, founders, investors, and leaders. If major events like London Tech Week can't make space for, what message does that send about who belongs in tech? I don't necessarily mean make it kid-inclusive event in general, or do I? Doesn't our future belong to the kids?' Ms Schonle later told The Times she had been left feeling 'absolutely humiliated' and 'angry' by the incident. As founder and chief executive of Humanvantage AI, which is developing a conversational role-play corporate training platform using AI technology, she had reportedly arranged three meetings with exhibitors. In response to her LinkedIn post, Rebecca Taylor, an expert in cyber threats and human intelligence who gave a TED talk last year, said she was 'so sorry', and signalled her support for the mother. She wrote: 'I honestly don't know what to say. The 'juggle' is real, and if you're doing your best to make life happen and be part of the conversation, other individuals and communities should be empowering you to do that. Here if you ever want to talk.' Janthea Brigden, ambassador for Children at Events, wrote: 'It feels so humiliating, doesn't? Like you are a 'non person'!' London Tech Week is expected to attract more than 45,000 people from across the world. On Monday, in an address at the event, Sir Keir vowed to persuade a 'sceptical' public that AI can improve millions of lives and transform the way business works. In a statement about the incident, London Tech Week said: 'We're aware that one of our attendees wasn't allowed to enter with their child yesterday. As a business event, the environment hasn't been designed to incorporate the particular needs, facilities and safeguards that under-16s require. 'We want everyone in the tech community to feel welcome at London Tech Week. We've reached out directly to the person involved to discuss what happened and use this experience to inform how we approach this at LTW in the future.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data


Bloomberg
24 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Nvidia Teams Up With Startup Mistral as Part of European AI Push
Nvidia Corp. announced a raft of projects aimed at bolstering artificial-intelligence infrastructure across Europe, including an expanded partnership with French startup Mistral AI. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang made the announcements during a joint Nvidia-VivaTech event in Paris, part of a globe-trotting campaign to promote the adoption of AI and his company's products. A data center buildout is needed in Europe to help countries there catch up in deploying the technology, he said.