Is overuse of AI making your mind smarter?

 Is overuse of AI making your mind smarter?

I am discussing here the ability to think using one's own conscience and the role of technology in it. The interesting thing is that I myself have taken the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to solve this issue. This may sound a little contradictory. But I have used AI not as an assistant to speed up my work, but as a 'tool' to broaden my thinking. How this is possible and why it is important is discussed in detail here:

Let's look at the typical routine of an intellectual worker in the twenty-first century. As soon as you reach the office, you can see the email. We take the help of AI to understand it in brief and also ask it to write the answer. If we have to prepare a report, we ask the AI ​​to prepare a draft to get rid of the stress of seeing a blank page. And we are satisfied with what he has prepared.

Today, 'writer's block' is not just staring at a blank page, but looking at a page filled by AI and thinking, 'Do I agree with this?' We are slowly becoming the 'proof' of a robot idea. We have become like a 'tourist' in our own work where the thoughts are not our own.

AI has become an indispensable mediator in the relationship between our work and ourselves, taking us away from our original creations.

Although this situation sounds easy, various studies have shown that it has a serious impact on human thinking. If we talk about creativity, although AI may seem to have given new ideas individually, it has been reducing the diversity of ideas on a collective level.

When all employees run AI, there is an increased risk that only the same limited ideas will come out. Similarly, with the use of AI, various studies have shown that people's critical thinking and memory have started to decline.

If we ask AI to write something, we ourselves will not remember what we wrote. Reading the summary does not give you as much understanding as reading the entire document. In short, we have become like 'middle managers' for our own ideas.

When we don't spend our mind even on small tasks, our brain 'muscles' become weak. As a result, we may be unable to solve complex problems in the future. It is like finding medicine instead of exercise and then wondering why I have difficulty breathing.

But the situation does not have to remain like this. AI is not just an assistant to do our work, it should become a tool to sharpen our thinking. It should not only help us like an obedient slave but challenge our thinking. Getting the job done quickly is not a big thing, understanding the job better and being able to ask the right questions is a sign of good thinking. My team at Microsoft Research has developed one such prototype, which encourages people to think for themselves instead of relying on AI.

For example, an employee named Clara will study a new market report and prepare a proposal. Instead of entrusting AI to 'write me this report', she studies it herself through different 'lenses'. She reads on her own, makes notes and in the process the AI ​​teases her by asking different questions or giving new arguments.

We call this 'provocation'. Here, the AI ​​does not replace Clara, but instead helps to sharpen her decision-making abilities and expertise. Clara's own work is added to this process, so the final draft is her original creation. There is no 'chat box' in it, it is only a means of keeping one's own conscience active.

Such tools use the speed and flexibility of AI to preserve and enhance human thinking. It has some simple principles, the tool should involve people directly in the work, create some challenging obstacles for thinking and help them to observe their own thinking process.

Our aim is not only to increase the ability to work but also to develop better thinking.

Finally, we have to think about one thing, if machines think, speak or feel for us, then what is the significance of our human existence? The ability to think clearly is the basis of human freedom and progress. In the past, there was a fear that books or the internet would take the place of our memory. Today, we are afraid that machines will take the place of our thinking. Therefore, while developing technology, we should pay attention to such values ​​which should not displace people but empower them.

(Advaita Sarkar, a researcher at Microsoft, is an Affiliate Professor at Cambridge University. Excerpt from a presentation given by Advaita Sarkar at TED Talks.)