In a time where information can be obtained at the touch of a button, our ability to think deeply and critically is in serious danger. As the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more common in everyday life, our ability to think critically and pursue knowledge is diminishing rapidly. We’ve lost our ability to understand nuance and think deeply, the ramifications of which are grave.
Several years ago, a quick Google search probably redirected you to a page filled with various blue links and websites that might have had the answer you were looking for. Although it was a relatively streamlined process, some degree of effort and curiosity was still required to effectively use Google.
Now, with more and more people consulting AI chatbots for answers to simple queries, we are losing our curious, investigative nature in favor of overly-simplified and often inaccurate answers. These smart AI models have begun to provide us with instant and unquestioned answers, resulting in us forgetting how to actually want knowledge rather than simply find it.
In a world where answers can be instantly received, there’s no incentive to hunt for knowledge and explore the vast swaths of information on the internet. The ease of AI may soon give way to dependency as well as a decline in thinking skills, both of which may contribute to the creation of a world characterized by misinformation and anti-intellectualism where we are no longer able to question our surroundings or discern fact from fiction. The same trend can be seen in workplaces, where curiosity and expertise are being replaced by speed and automation. As one Forbes article explains it, everyone has the answers now, but few can explain them. This growing lack of deep thought is less about ignorance and instead stems from disengaging with critical thinking and analysis as AI gives users whatever answers they might seek without much effort.
Although AI seeks to replicate human thought and the surface level features of language and structure, it bypasses the distinctly human ability to wonder. We no longer have to think to get the answers we seek, and as critical thinking becomes less necessary, our brains will start to adapt in response. What once demanded effort and exploration now becomes frictionless, rendering cognitive processes unimportant.
The tendency to question ourselves and the world around us has been at the root of human innovation, the seed from which all our progress as humans has sprouted. Without the ability to question things in our lives, we’ll lose our investigative skills, our desire to understand the complex and our ability to think critically.
AI isn’t the only factor contributing to this cognitive decline though. With cell phones, we’ve started endlessly doom scrolling. With our attention spans severely diminished, we have begun to favor convenience and entertainment over critical thinking and the pursuit of knowledge.
The immediacy of the internet means that as a society, boredom is no longer a spur for progress. Before the Internet, people had no choice but to sit with their boredom or find an alternative outlet for it. Now, with cell phones and access to anything at our finger tips, we have experienced notable decreases in our wondering, pondering, learning and daydreaming. We’ve stopped encouraging our brains to work independently and actually process the issues at hand.
Instead, we seek instant answers from models that can seemingly predict our behavior and tailor answers as needed.. Everything we could ever want to know is available at the touch of a button, robbing us of any mental effort we might have been forced to exercise in the past. Think of all the incredible discoveries, inventions and works of art that have been created as a result of someone being bored enough to let their mind wander and do something to satisfy that boredom. What is to become of our future if AI robs us of our curiosity? Will there continue to be new discoveries or innovations, or will we stagnate? More worrisome, will we lose our ability to differentiate fact from fiction?
The alarming results of a new MIT study show that not only is ChatGPT affecting our critical thinking skills, but it is also diminishing our brain engagement and overall performance. In the study, researchers used an EEG (electroencephalogram) to monitor the brain activity of three different groups, who were tasked with writing several SAT essays with the help of either OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the Google search engine, or nothing at all. Out of the three groups, those who used ChatGPT had the lowest brain engagement, and were shown to have “consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic and behavioral levels.” Compared to the other groups, the ChatGPT group also got lazier as the study progressed, putting less effort into each subsequent essay. Their essays were also largely unoriginal, with members of the group producing shockingly similar essays to others in the group that relied on many of the same expressions and ideas. In contrast, the group that used only their brains to write essays showed the highest levels of neural connectivity, notably in alpha, theta and delta bands, which are brainwaves commonly associated with creative ideation, memory and semantic processing. Similarly, the group that used Google also exhibited active brain function. This is especially important to note as we see more people shift to AI chatbots to search for information rather than Google Search.
The ramifications of this study on how LLMs (large language models) affect learning are frightening, since AI has grown increasingly prevalent within the academic world, shaping how students learn material and complete assignments. These results are especially alarming for young minds, as extensive LLM use for immediate convenience among students may harm long-term brain development. According to Zishan Khan, a psychiatrist who treats many children and adolescents who rely on AI to do their schoolwork, “overreliance on these LLMs can have unintended psychological and cognitive consequences, especially for young people whose brains are still developing.” The overuse of AI during critical brain development stages may lead to the weakening of neural connections that aid in the access of information, formation of memory and development of resilience, resulting in diminished brain function that may never fully recover.
Excess reliance on AI may also lead to a disdain for intellectual thought. Anti intellectualism is defined as a mistrust or skepticism of intellectualism, commonly seen as the questioning of the value and importance of intellectual pursuits such as education and philosophy, as well as the dismissal of art, literature, history, science and more as impractical pursuits. In times where people are looking for simple answers to complex issues, a tendency to reject intellectual ideas is often seen. AI has exacerbated this issue, with many simply turning to chatbots for streamlined responses to their queries rather than taking the time to think for themselves and understand the nuance and detail of current events, the big questions in life and so much more.
Notably, anti-intellectualism has been utilized by totalitarian governments to suppress political dissent. Examples of such behavior can be seen in the Spanish Civil War, where the White Terror (also known as the Francoist Repression) led by dictator Francisco Franco resulted in mass violence and the murder of much of Spanish intelligentsia. Additionally, anti-intellectualism could also be seen in the totalitarian regime led by Pol Pet that decimated the educated population of Cambodia during the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge genocide.
This isn’t to say that reliance on AI is a slippery slope to the holds of anti-intellectualism and fascist ideologies, but it does become a real fear as people bypass critical thought in favor of instantaneous answers and conveniently packaged responses.
While AI may not be completely avoidable, we must figure out ways to work with it effectively, utilizing it as a tool to complement our own thoughts rather than letting it replace them. Intellectualism and the pursuit of knowledge must be upheld, not only to retain our essential thinking skills but also to drive progress, safeguard our freedoms and expand our understanding of the world around us. We must not allow our minds to become passive, and instead must relentlessly bolster our curiosity, creativity and ability to think critically. This is the only way we can continue to grow as human beings, not just in terms of our base of knowledge but also in terms of our outlook on the world itself. If we lack intellect, we have essentially lost what it means to be human. Question everything, and exercise your brain regularly by wrestling with tough topics and complex problems.