Could humanity become more stupid and degenerate because of AI?

The widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies may lead to a decrease in people's mental abilities: since neural networks will take over most mental tasks, people may become dumber in the foreseeable future and lose the ability to independently solve cognitive problems. Umberto León-Domínguez, a professor at the University of Monterrey in Mexico, warns about this. The scientist outlined his thoughts on this in an article in the scientific journal Neuropsychology.

According to him, ChatGPT, unlike other, especially older AI models, uses a so-called transformer model, making its responses very similar to those of a living person. And although it is interesting and useful, it relieves people of the tasks of finding solutions to problems and making plans, although these tasks are useful training for cognitive functions.

According to the scientist, such close integration of AI into human thought processes is fraught with potential risks. Thus, he considers “cognitive unloading” to be the key problem: people can become overly dependent on neural networks, which will lead to a decrease in their ability to independently perform mental tasks. Without exercise, muscles weaken, and cognitive skills will similarly decline if not used regularly.

The problem, Dominguez says, is not just that people will become too lazy to spend time thinking: there is an even greater risk of delays in cognitive development and problem-solving ability. Over time, this could lead to people having serious problems with a lack of critical thinking and creativity as they become accustomed to letting AI do all the heavy lifting.

According to the scientist, not all technologies are associated with the risk of cognitive load. For now, most traditional tools still require human effort to produce results.