Is it just me, or are people around you also getting dumber?
Not in the sense of “oh that idiot has different political views than me, and mine are clearly right”, but in the sense of, “I thought that person used to be able to make better, more rational, more well thought out decisions”.
A researcher at the MIT Media Lab found that, compared with brain-only users, ChatGPT users showed up to 55% less brain activity.
Using AI chat tools literally turns our brains off.
Another study showed that people with the highest dependence on AI tools had the lowest critical thinking abilities.
AI and ab belts
Remember those electronic stimulation belts advertised on infomercials you’d wrap around your stomach and do nothing while they gave you “shredded abs”?
Zero people got abs using them.
Building muscle requires effort.
AI is like an electronic ab belt for our minds. “Thinking” by chatting with AI feels good because it doesn’t require us to exert mental effort.
That’s why using AI too much, especially as a replacement for deep, difficult thinking, makes us dumber.
Exercise your mind
The antidote to AI dumbification is simple: put in the work.
Let the lazy, complacent, shortcut-focused people offload their once-powerful minds onto AI.
Think first, without technology.
- Research manually (such as to understand your customers or a new market).
- Read long-form content (like physical books).
- Talk with actual people more successful than you.
- Write without AI.
- Plan without AI (using a notebook and pen).
As with the overuse of social media, there are good and bad sides to AI dumbification. The bad is that smart people are getting dumber; the good is that it makes it far easier for the remaining few to get ahead.
Choose wisely which group you’d like to be in.
—Matt
Written by AI.
Just kidding 🙂