As more companies and leaders embrace AI, a new Microsoft study finds troubling implications for the human workers who use it.

Business leaders have been urging workers to get AI training to stay relevant in their roles, but it might just keep employees stagnant. New research from authors at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University finds that leaning too much on tools such as ChatGPT is associated with weaker critical thinking.

Surveying 319 knowledge workers through 936 first-hand self-reported examples of using generative AI at work, the authors attempted to gauge the perceived enactment of critical thought and how GenAI impacts said process. Respondents were asked about how they used AI tools, their confidence in AI’s ability, their ability to judge AI’s work, and their assuredness in their ability to complete said task without AI.

Researchers found that higher confidence in GenAI was associated with less critical thinking, and that higher…

Microsoft Study Finds AI Makes Human Cognition “Atrophied and Unprepared”

FEB 10, 2025 • BY EMANUEL MAIBERG

www.404media.co

Researchers find that the more people use AI at their job, the less critical thinking they use.

Researchers find that the more people use AI at their job, the less critical thinking they use.

A new paper from researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University finds that as humans increasingly rely on generative AI in their work, they use less critical thinking, which can “result in the deterioration of cognitive faculties that ought to be preserved.”

“[A] key irony of automation is that by mechanising routine tasks and leaving exception-handling to the human user, you deprive the user of the routine opportunities to practice their judgement and strengthen their cognitive musculature, leaving them atrophied and unprepared when the exceptions do arise,” the researchers wrote. 

We've recorded the meeting and you can find that here: https://youtu.be/nAJmXm7SXv8. We have a presentation from The Hari and Rebecca Recommends, and a discussion about the current considerations of Travel Insurance presented by Rich Toltzman of Travel Guard.

Hello everyone,

I'm pleased to post the presentation from our fabulous guests yesterday evening. It's chock full of great tools!

-Bryan