ChatGPT may harm your mind: Microsoft warns about critical thinking

Let’s be real. AI is everywhere. We use it for everything from writing emails to planning our vacations. But is it making us. .. less smart?

That’s the question Microsoft is asking. And their research is a little scary.

The Study Says What?

Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University did a study. It was all about how AI affects our critical thinking skills. What they found wasn’t great.

Basically, the more we trust AI, the less we think for ourselves. If you always use a GPS, you might forget how to read a map. Same idea.

The study pointed out: “Used improperly, technologies can and do result in the deterioration of cognitive faculties that ought to be preserved. .. ”

Ouch.

How Did They Figure This Out?

The researchers looked at 319 “knowledge workers. ” These are folks who work with data and information every day. They asked them how much they used AI, and how much they used their brains.

Critical thinking was broken down into these skills:

• Remembering stuff
• Understanding stuff
• Using stuff in the real world
• Comparing stuff
• Combining stuff
• Judging stuff

The workers used AI for things like looking up facts and summarizing documents. They used their own brains mostly to write good prompts, make the prompts better, and check the AI’s answers.

Microsoft’s Got Skin in the Game

Here’s the interesting part. Most of the researchers work for Microsoft. You know, the company that’s invested billions in AI like ChatGPT.

Why are they warning us? Well, they know AI can make us more efficient. But, they also know it can make us lazy.

The researchers said AI could “reduce critical engagement, particularly in routine or lower-stakes tasks in which users simply rely on AI. .. ”

The Bottom Line?

AI is cool. It can help us do a lot of things faster. But we can’t let it do all the thinking for us.

If you stop using your muscles, they get weak. Same with your brain. We need to keep using it, even when AI is there to help.

Next time you’re using ChatGPT, ask yourself: Am I letting it do all the work? Or am I still thinking for myself?