Industry Talk - POV
Artificial Intelligence - how much is too much?
by By Khouloud Sraj - Deputy General Manager I-Metric
February 27, 2026
NB: This article is Human generated
AI is in everything we do. Offices run on automated tools, simple presentations or emails often rely on AI. Even music, films, and schoolwork can all be generated in seconds.
Today, everything we need is a prompt away through a plethora of AI tools.
This however raises a bigger question: Will AI eventually weaken our ability to think for ourselves? How much AI is too much?
Human brains adapt to technology, but not always in beneficial ways. A 2020 study found that excessive GPS use can weaken spatial memory. Despite being a basic navigation tool, when overused, can erode cognitive skills. Like physical muscles, our mental abilities need exercise, which means engaging with technology in an intentional way.
With the chronic overuse of AI, would there be a kind of mental atrophy from a lack of cognitive exercise?
Staying mentally active is an important habit to prevent dementia however the technology and human’s behavior is shifting us to the opposite direction.
We’ve seen how calculators affect basic math skills or how autocorrect weakens spelling.
Now, with LLMs doing the “thinking” for us, we are entering unfamiliar territory.
While AI clearly saves time on repetitive tasks like data entry or bookkeeping, its cognitive impact is concerning.
Studies on 600 participants found that frequent AI users were more likely to offload mental tasks rather than think through them. Over time, these participants showed a reduced ability to critically evaluate information. The issue is not only reliance on AI, but also on trust that is not always justified.
Gen Z, in particular, tends to trust algorithms more than humans, with many students who leaned on AI during the pandemic carrying the habit into the workplace.
Is this working smarter, or gradually eroding mental strength? The answer is nuanced.
For simple tasks, AI helps. But relying on it for all thinking risks shrinking our cognitive abilities.
In a few years this technology could improve but for now trust is compromised as long as LLMs are displaying flaws that are taken for granted and posted as facts.
While 70% of people say they trust AI news summaries, a BBC investigation found over half of these summaries contained significant errors.
Even asking an AI to “improve” text can distort meaning. Oxford researchers found that when AI rewrites AI-generated text repeatedly, the output quickly collapses into nonsense - “model collapse”
We need to understand the limitations of AI and acknowledge that although AI can be useful, it's not ready to replace our critical minds.
Despite widespread use—over 90% of some workplaces’ Gen Z employees use multiple AI tools weekly—putting Creativity and critical thinking at risk of weakening if incoming generations aren’t careful.
Fears of automation are not new. Like calculators, spellcheck, industrialization and computerization that were feared then adopted, AI can ultimately enhance productivity—if used responsibly.
Because, no matter how advanced AI becomes, human critical thinking will remain essential for life changing breakthroughs in medicine, science, education & more.
Until AI is mastered, humans should value their abilities to think for themselves.
After all, René Descartes is probably not wrong when he defined the one thing that makes us humans: “We think, therefore we are”
Sources:
Journal of Environmental Psychology 99 (2024)
