When ChatGPT first came out three years ago, I chose skepticism over enthusiasm. Deciding to stray away from this new technology until I was better informed, I watched others give artificial intelligence (AI) unique roles in their lives. For my mom, generative AI was a study tool. It created quizzes for her to practice French, something she could not do alone. For my peers, AI chatbots became useful for giving advice, brainstorming ideas and explaining homework. Online, AI-generated videos engulfed my feed, a still-developing trend. Clearly, AI tools can be a massive help, skyrocketing productivity. However, nothing comes without a cost. 

As technology progresses, more tasks are taken off of our shoulders and displaced onto the new advancements. A classic example would be the development of the printing press, which made literature available at rates never before achieved by displacing the responsibility of inscribing onto a machine. Offloading the task of writing onto the press did not present much consequence, as a small portion of the population were scribes. In contrast, technological growth in the 21st century is much more personal. Beginning with the creation of a device that is always with us, either in our pocket or hands, modern advancements offer a different kind of offloading.

Cognitive offloading describes the use of external tools to reduce the cognitive load on an individual’s memory, according to Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), a scientific journal access site. Evidently, AI tools accomplish this, but cognitive offloading is nothing new. Everyday tasks such as making a grocery list also exemplify this process. The difference is that AI tools are novel, vast and ubiquitous. Therefore, as much as they can have positive impacts on our lives, they have a unique potential to negatively affect their users. 

Acting as the mediator in the process, cognitive offloading from the use of AI tools decreases critical thinking abilities, according to MDPI. Critical thinking — the ability to analyze, evaluate and synthesize information to make reasoned decisions — is vital to success in all settings. While this conclusion is discouraging for AI-users, skeptics like me seem to be immune to these effects.

Unfortunately, we are not. Though the study only investigated the consequence of cognitive offloading with the use of AI, I would argue that other aspects of modern technology mirror the same effect. The creation of the internet means a surplus of information is constantly available. This level of access, whether it be through a scroll or Google search, diminishes the need to encode information into memory. It also creates an environment of distraction and lowered attention, preventing slow reflective thought. Thus, modern technology use, even without AI, has the potential to decrease critical thinking.

Hopefully, those still reading have not resorted to skimming at the mention of critical thought. Though a primary goal of education, critical thinking is not solely an academically advantageous skill. It has the power to make change in the outcomes of our lives. Better critical thinking is associated with experiencing fewer negative life events, according to the National Center of Biotechnology Information, according to NCBI. We can use critical thinking to better predict the outcomes of choices, lowering the likelihood that we make bad ones. This ability has transformative power on personal and societal scales.

Luckily, our fates are not set in stone. Compared to intelligence, critical thinking is easier to improve according to NBCI. A good critical thinker requires both the skills and disposition. This means that having great critical thinking skills provides little benefit if one does not deem them necessary to apply. Considering the example of social media, it does not matter how good a user is at thinking critically if they do not engage those skills when a conspiracy theory pops up on their feed. So, by simply trying to think critically in significant situations, we are halfway there.

As I witness hate, extremism and violence plague the world my future lies in, a question rings loud: What are they thinking? It is clear that many of society’s greatest issues are escalated by a lack of critical thought. The potential to trend away from critical thought through the features of modern technology is highly concerning. As with all progress, new technologies will have both positive and negative impacts. However, this negative impact is one we have the power to resist. Each of us who believes in justice has a responsibility to our society to improve our capacities for critical thought.