Are We Thinking... Or Just Prompting?

By Shahid Tariq Lone

A couple of days ago, I commented on a LinkedIn post. A well-established professional replied to my comment, and when I responded to his reply, something felt off.

Within seconds, a long, polished counter-argument appeared. It felt rushed and unmistakably AI-generated.

I stopped replying, as the conversation no longer felt human or meaningful.

That moment sparked a deeper question: Is AI making us smarter, or just more fluent without understanding and slowly making us duller?

This thought stayed with me, and I began looking into research exploring similar concerns.

Recent research from the MIT Media Lab suggests that how we use AI matters far more than whether we use it at all.

The researchers found that when participants relied heavily on AI tools like ChatGPT for writing tasks, their brain activity in regions associated with reasoning, memory, and deep thinking was significantly lower than those who wrote independently or even those who used traditional search engines.

Participants who relied on AI also recalled less of what they had written and reported a weaker sense of ownership over their ideas.

The researchers call this phenomenon“cognitive debt,” a condition where thinking is outsourced rather than exercised.

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