AI and the Death of Critical Thinking: A Looming Crisis
How Our Reliance on Artificial Intelligence Risks Eroding Human Reasoning and Shaping a Passive Future Artificial intelligence (AI) is heralded as a transformative force, reshaping industries and augmenting human capabilities. Yet, emerging research warns of a darker undercurrent: the erosion of critical thinking. A study by the Swiss Business School reveals a troubling pattern—frequent AI tool users, particularly younger individuals, exhibit markedly lower critical thinking scores. The problem is cognitive offloading, where people rely on AI for mental tasks, reducing their own thinking efforts. This dependency is most pronounced among younger users, who, raised in an AI-saturated environment, often rely on algorithms to answer questions, make decisions, and even form opinions. The trade-off is stark: efficiency and convenience at the expense of…