Brain on Borrow: Are We Outsourcing Our Smarts to AI?
How AI tools are shaping and challenging our cognitive skills in the digital age
Building cognitive strength: My personal experience
I still remember those late nights at college, sitting at my desk and staring at a blank page, searching for the right words for my essay. The process was rarely straightforward. I would jot down ideas, cross them out, and start again—sometimes frustrated, sometimes inspired. Each draft brought new challenges, every revision forcing me to dig deeper, question my assumptions, and push my own limits. Looking back, those long hours taught me more than how to finish an assignment; they built my resilience, perseverance, and critical thinking skills—traits that have served me ever since.
The promise of AI for future generations
Today, the landscape has shifted dramatically. With the advent of AI, students and professionals now have access to tools that can generate ideas, structure essays, and even write entire drafts in seconds. AI offers unprecedented opportunities to automate routine tasks, accelerate learning, and provide instant answers to complex questions. Used wisely, AI can free up time for creativity, innovation, and deeper learning. But with great power comes great responsibility—the real challenge is knowing when to leverage these tools and when to rely on our own cognitive abilities to avoid what’s known as “cognitive debt.”
What is cognitive debt?
Cognitive debt is a term that has gained traction with the advent of AI, drawing inspiration from the concept of “technical debt.” Ward Cunningham, a renowned computer programmer, coined “technical debt” to describe the hidden costs that arise when developers take shortcuts—like copy-pasting code or skipping tests—to deliver features quickly, instead of a more robust approach. While these shortcuts are sometimes necessary, they can undermine a team’s long-term agility and adaptability if left unchecked.
Similarly, cognitive debt is rooted in the classic phrase “no pain, no gain.” Each time we opt for a quick and easy fix, we weaken our mental muscles and accrue interest on borrowed cognitive capacity. Over time, this can lead to a noticeable decline in our thinking and problem-solving skills.1
Why is cognitive debt more relevant than ever in the Era of AI?
Recent research from MIT discovered that the widespread use of AI tools has led many users to accumulate significant cognitive debt.2 Their study focused on evaluating the cognitive impact of using large language model (LLM)-assisted tools in a simple educational task like essay writing.
The results were striking. Participants who relied on AI assistance scored lower in every metric, including neural skills, linguistic ability, and overall essay quality, compared to those who used only their own reasoning. This study clearly underscores how AI may influence learning processes not just for students today in educational contexts, but for future generations as well.
Navigating the future of cognitive skills
It seems likely that the days of laboring over a first draft and revising it multiple times are fading. As LLM-powered tools become more integrated into daily life, especially in education, we must consider how this shift will affect the development of cognitive skills. The temptation to use AI for quick wins may have deeper, long-term consequences that we are only beginning to understand.
During the foundational years of learning, navigating the ethical and practical boundaries of AI use will be increasingly complex. The key question is: will future generations build cognitive “muscle” by embracing challenges, or will they erode their skills by outsourcing too much to AI?
Rather than risking cognitive bankruptcy, where even writing a simple email or making a trivial decision requires AI assistance, learn to make a conscious effort to flex your thinking muscles wherever possible.
Just like a financial loan that accrues interest and demands repayment, cognitive debt functions in a similar way. Whether or not AI becomes a major driving force behind cognitive debt in the future, the next time you reach for an AI tool pause and consider the opportunity cost.
Ibid.
—Gursahil Sran | Audit & Assurance Consultant | Deloitte & Touche LLP
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Bravo team, this is a great one. We talk often about AI freeing us up for “higher-order” tasks but what higher-order task is there than self-expression? We outsource communication at the risk of losing our humanity-it’s what sets us apart.