When was the last time an email was written without referring to ChatGPT? Do people force their brains to 'brainstorm' anymore, or is much of that work being left to Artificial Intelligence? Is cognitive offloading making humans dumb, then? If AI starts to do the thinking, will humans lose the power to think, eventually at least?

It certainly is the right time to ask these questions.

While society has been engaging in a fair amount of cognitive offloading for a while now, relying on phone books for number recall, GPS for directions, and calculators to do math, nothing has come close to AI when it comes to outsourcing the job of thinking itself. In fact, according to a Salesforce global study, India leads generative AI adoption globally, with 73% of urban workers actively using AI tools.

AI can write emails, summarise papers, solve problems, and even tell someone what to say next!

And generative AI is different. It doesn't just store or retrieve information like a digital phone book on a smartphone. It is much more than that. It can write, analyse, summarise, reason, and make recommendations.

So, what happens when the tool isn't simply helping individuals remember, but helping them think? Is AI making people exercise their grey cells less, and will that make humanity dumber?

Purvi Jain, Founder and Academic Director, Brain and AI Research Group (BAIRG), says the effect largely depends on whether AI is used as a replacement for thought or a support for thought. BAIRG works in the area of cognitive psychology.

"Research published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (SAGE Publications) shows that while offloading information improves immediate task performance when the stored information remains available, individuals often recall less when those supports are unexpectedly removed," she says. Similarly, she adds, studies published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology (Elsevier) and Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio) have linked prolonged GPS reliance with a weaker sense of direction and reduced independent navigation ability over time.

"The brain develops expertise when people actively retrieve information, evaluate alternatives, solve problems, and struggle productively with difficult tasks. When AI performs these processes on behalf of users, performance may remain high in the short term while skill acquisition and retention suffer over the long term. However, the evidence also suggests that these outcomes are not inevitable," she explains further.

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What does the research say?

A 2025 study published in the Proceedings of the ACM CHI Conference examined 319 knowledge workers and analysed 936 real-world examples of generative AI use.

The researchers found that greater confidence in AI was associated with less reported critical-thinking effort. In simple terms, people who placed greater confidence in AI reported putting less cognitive effort into the task themselves.

But there is an important caveat. The study did not conclude that AI eliminates critical thinking. Instead, it suggested that AI can change where critical thinking happens, from generating an answer to checking, verifying, and integrating the answer produced by AI.

Recent studies from MIT, Microsoft Research, and behavioural scientists indicate that heavy reliance on generative AI can reduce critical thinking, weaken neural engagement, and lead to what is now known as Cognitive Inertia when the tool is removed, a growing concern in regions like Asia-Pacific, where Deloitte research shows over 80% of young professionals now use generative AI daily at work.

And why might that happen?

Because the struggle to retrieve information, formulate an answer, and solve a problem independently isn't necessarily wasted effort. That struggle is part of learning.

How the brain imitates a muscle

Think about going to the gym. If a machine lifts the entire weight for a person, they may finish the workout, but they haven't exercised the muscle.

Could cognition work in a similar way? The brain has cognitive muscles too:

  • Memory
  • Reasoning
  • Writing
  • Problem-solving
  • Decision-making

Jain says she would advise using AI like a medicine: "Treat AI like medicine, not a daily habit. Use it when it genuinely adds value, not as an automatic substitute for independent thinking."

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The right amount of usage matters. Over-reliance is what experts are cautioning against. "Use the right dosage. Over-reliance on AI can create cognitive dependency. Just as excessive GPS use has been associated with weaker navigation abilities over time, excessive reliance on AI may reduce engagement with memory, reasoning, and problem-solving skills," adds Jain.

Amongst a list of things that must be kept in mind to reduce dependence on AI is conscious use.

"Think before prompting. Attempt to understand, analyse, or solve a problem on your own first. Use AI afterwards to challenge assumptions, fill knowledge gaps, or provide alternative perspectives," Jain suggests.

Instead of asking AI for answers, users might want to try asking it to:

  • Critique reasoning
  • Provide counterarguments
  • Highlight blind spots
  • Compare different approaches

"Practise structured prompting and use AI as a cognitive scaffold, not a cognitive substitute," says Jain.



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