Cognitive outsourcing (the idea of letting AI do your thinking for you) is being discussed a lot right now. but the term ‘cognitive sovereignty’ is probably a better way to describe the risks involved in this practice because it captures the nuance of how we actually work with AI to get the best from both machine and human. Humans have always outsourced to tools (the brain desires efficiency) but what this fascinating research from the Artificiality Institute shows is the difference between you being a part of the cognitive process and being outside of it.
Multiple studies have shown the value of retaining cognitive sovereignty and having AI support your reasoning process rather than letting AI be the driver. Just recently Anthropic published the results of a randomised control trial with software developers which found that those who used AI assistance scored 17% lower on tests of the skills they’d just used. Interestingly the biggest gap was in the ability to spot when something is wrong and understand why. And that’s simply because they we’re less deeply involved in the cognitive process.
Which is why we need a more intentional approach to designing and training for how people can use AI. Speed without judgment can become a liability.
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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
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