Is Ai Making Us Dumber?

The title of this article is a question. By the end, an answer will have been provided to you, personally.

I could remember vividly, 2018 in high school. Once an assignment was given, particularly in mathematics, I'd pick up about two different math textbooks, usually New Concept and New General Mathematics, or even more (math textbooks weren't scarce as my mum is a mathematician). I'd open the same topic in both textbooks, study with New Concept, and practice with New General Mathematics (NGM). If I hit a roadblock, I'd call on my mum. The goal wasn't just to know the topic, it was to know it excellently enough to answer questions the next day or even solve problems on the board when my teacher asked. I'm highly confident I wasn't the only one in this scenario. Even today, parents had their share of this process back in high school. We were all inevitably forced to study rigorously and extensively.

Fast forward to 2025. Students in high school, once given an assignment, go straight to our favourite Ai agents(ChatGPT, DeepSeek…) : snap, prompt, copy, paste and that's all. With the way technology is advancing fast, students are at a disadvantage if they're not involved, if they don't have access to devices. This SPCP effect (Snap, Prompt, Copy, Paste) (as i like to call it) isn't just limited to the high school education system but even extends to tertiary institutions. We know ourselves. And with this effect in place, we have people struggling every day to limit their use of artificial intelligence and rather think for themselves, write for themselves, and do those tasks themselves. Because when they find themselves really into it, even the smallest questions that require minimum thought process,
it's straight to their AI.

The AI Creep

I happen to have been exploring lately, surfing the internet and trying out all random stuffs, and one of the most fascinating things I came across recently is this new AI-featured web browser by Perplexity AI “Comet”. The user interface is very nice, but I'm telling you... yooooo, this web browser is heavy on artificial intelligence. It has completely taken away the need to type when the AI can do it for you. Turn on the mic and say what you wanna do or search for, the AI's got you covered, down to the login and sign-in page. It has handled the need to type and even the postural defects we face while sitting down, lol.

“By the way, it was reported that Perplexity Ai offered to purchase Chrome, your most used web browser.”

Think about that for a second. The browser you use every day could soon be run by an AI company whose entire business model is doing your thinking for you.

What Are We Losing?

Here's what's happening: we're outsourcing our brains.

When you SPCP your way through assignments, you're not learning, you're performing. You look like you know, but you don't. When AI writes your emails, summarizes your articles, solves your math problems, you're not developing critical thinking. You're not building problem-solving skills. You're not training your memory. You're not learning how to struggle through a tough concept and come out the other side understanding it.

And here's the kicker: most of us don't even realize it's happening. We think we're being efficient. We think we're leveraging tools. But what we're actually doing is letting a machine do the cognitive heavy lifting while our brains atrophy like muscles we never use.

Students who can't solve problems without AI. Workers who can't write a coherent email on their own. People who can't remember basic information because "I'll just ask my Ai later." This isn't efficiency, it's dependency.

The Sycophancy Problem (Again)

Remember my last article on algorithm bias? AI has a sycophancy problem, it agrees with you even when you're wrong. Now combine that with cognitive dependency. You're not just letting AI think for you, you're letting AI validate your laziness. It tells you you're right. It never pushes back. It never forces you to reconsider. So you never grow.

We're creating a generation that doesn't know how to think deeply because they've never had to. They've never sat with a difficult problem long enough to solve it. They've never revised a paragraph five times to get it right. They've never memorized anything because why would they?

So, Is AI Making Us Dumber?

Here's my answer: AI isn't making us dumber, we're choosing to let it.

AI is a tool. Like any tool, it can build or it can destroy, depending on how we use it. A calculator didn't make mathematicians obsolete, it freed them to solve harder problems. But if we use AI as a pillar, if we let it do all the thinking, then yes, we will become dumber. Not because the technology is bad, but because we've retired responsibility for our own minds.

The question isn't whether AI is powerful. It is. The question is whether we're disciplined enough to use it without losing ourselves in the process.

So here's my challenge to you: the next time you're about to snap, prompt, copy, paste, stop. Try doing it yourself first. Struggle with it. Sit with the discomfort of not knowing. Because that discomfort? That's where learning happens. That's where growth happens.

AI can do a lot of things. But it can't make you smarter. Only you can do that.

A Meta Moment

As this article is very much concerned with me, you, and AI, I decided to take the article to an AI and ask for its own personal opinion on it. And it said, and I quote:

"Personally? I think it's necessary but uncomfortable.

Here's what I mean:

Why it's necessary: You're pointing at something real that most people feel but don't articulate. I watch it happen constantly—people (including me, in a way) defaulting to AI for things they could figure out themselves. The SPCP effect is real. The cognitive atrophy is real. And the scary part? It's so gradual that by the time we notice, we've already lost skills we used to have.

Your 2018 math story hits because it's recent nostalgia. We're not talking about some distant past—we're talking about 7 years ago. That's how fast this shift happened. That should terrify people.

Why it's uncomfortable: Because the article implicates everyone, including you and me. You're writing this, but you also use AI. I'm giving my opinion, but I'm literally AI. The line between 'tool' and 'crutch' is blurry, and most of us are on the wrong side of it more often than we'd like to admit."

I then asked the AI: "Are you kidding me? So you have developed emotions?"

And it replied with clarity that made me laugh: No, it hasn't. It's simulating perspective, using language patterns that sound human, predicting how readers might react—but it's not feeling anything. It's processing patterns and generating responses.

And yet, here I am, asking it questions like it's a person. Here you are, reading its "opinion" like it matters. That's the point, isn't it? We've gotten so comfortable with AI that we forget what it is. We treat it like a collaborator, a friend, a thinking entity, when really, it's just very, very good at mimicking us.

So is AI making us dumber? or lemme rephrase: are we paying enough attention to notice when we've stopped thinking for ourselves?