What's wrong with AI? 2-18-26

FROM HELLO WRITER (Substack blog) by Linda Caroll

Using AI means we don’t need to pick the words, or ask which parts belong and which don’t. We don’t need to determine which parts are rambling and which is the best order for the words to go in and then edit three or fifteen times.

But it doesn’t just affect ability to write. If it did, that would be a non-issue because let’s be honest. Most people using AI struggle to write in the first place and if there was no AI, many of them likely wouldn’t be writing anyway. Some might. Not all.

The problem is that studies are now showing that there’s a cognitive cost to using AI. Slowly but surely, we lose critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving skills. We find it harder to remember. Struggle to solve problems or think things through.

And it’s like slowly, slowly, the lights go out and we don’t even notice.

Using AI sets us farther back, cognitively, than where we were before it existed. So that now we don’t just struggle to write. We struggle with critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving skills as a whole, and to me that’s the real tragedy.

I don’t care that people don’t put “written by AI” on their posts. I can tell anyway because there is less depth. But I care that it’s costing us critical thinking skills in a world that’s already short of them.

Note: I couldn't agree more...