Writing.
Looking things up.
Coming up with ideas.
Asking about things you don’t understand.
With the arrival of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, tasks we used to spend a lot of time on ourselves can now be done in a fraction of the time.
For some people, AI has already become indispensable, both at work and in daily life.
At the same time, it raises a question:
“If I leave too much of my thinking to AI, will I lose the ability to think for myself?”
It’s a question many of us have wondered about.
As generative AI spreads rapidly, researchers have begun to look into this issue as well.
A 2025 Study on Generative AI and Critical Thinking
In 2025, researchers from Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon University surveyed 319 knowledge workers who use generative AI in their jobs.
The study focused on critical thinking.
Critical thinking isn’t simply about disagreeing with other people’s opinions.
“Is this information really accurate?”
“Is there enough evidence?”
“Could there be other possibilities?”
It refers to this kind of thinking: examining information for yourself instead of accepting it at face value.
The study found that the more people trusted generative AI, the less they tended to engage in critical thinking.
Conversely, people who were more confident in their own abilities were found to be more likely to think critically.
This Isn’t a Study Showing That AI Makes You Less Intelligent
It’s important to note here that
“using generative AI lowers your ability to think”
is not what has been proven.
What is more interesting is the possibility that AI is changing what the work of thinking actually involves.
In the past, the process was:
Search for information yourself
↓
Organize it
↓
Work out the writing
↓
Revise it
With generative AI, you can produce a first draft of all that in a short time.
As a result, the human role
shifts from “creating answers from scratch” to “checking, evaluating and revising the answers AI produces.”
That is how our role is changing.
What matters may not be avoiding AI, but not switching off your own thinking when AI gives you an answer.
Humans Have Always Handed Off Some of Their Thinking
In fact, handing off work we used to do in our heads is something people were doing long before AI came along.
For example:
Taking notes so you don’t forget.
Putting appointments in a calendar.
Letting a smartphone map handle directions.
Using a calculator to do the math.
Handing part of our memory or information processing over to external tools like this is called “cognitive offloading.”
Generative AI takes this even further. It can be seen as a tool that lets us hand off not just memory but also “thinking work” such as writing, brainstorming and organizing information.
That’s why, rather than rejecting the convenience, what matters is deciding how much to leave to AI, and where to start thinking for yourself.
In the Age of AI, Make Time to Think for Yourself
When you use generative AI, instead of adopting its answers as they are,
“Is this really correct?”
“Why is that?”
“Is there another way to look at it?”
“How would I judge this myself?”
Pause and ask yourself questions like these.
Have AI create a first draft, then revise it yourself.
Ask it for several options, then compare them yourself.
Ask AI for counterarguments too, then work out your own conclusion from there.
Used this way, AI is not a tool for giving up on thinking, but a tool that gives you more material to think with.
There’s no need to keep convenient things at a distance.
What matters is not leaning on that convenience completely.
How Will You Use the Time Efficiency Gives You?
There is one more thing worth considering: what we do with the time AI frees up.
You finish a task quickly with AI, then move straight on to the next one.
Your smartphone while on the move.
Social media during breaks.
Videos once you get home.
Even if efficiency creates free time, if we fill it with still more information, we end up looking at or thinking about something all day long.
At La HEAD, in a calm, fully private room, you can step away from your smartphone, close your eyes and let us slowly care not only for your head but also for your neck, shoulders and arms.
Precisely because AI has made life so convenient,
time to think things through for yourself,
and, on the other hand, time to rest without thinking about anything.
It may be important to make room for both, on purpose.
Let AI handle what it can.
Do the final thinking yourself.
And sometimes, step away from thinking altogether.
Thinking about how to live well with generative AI may also mean thinking about how to use our minds, and how to rest them, in the years ahead.