We, as humans, are preoccupied with telling the future. It seems we’re hard-wired to make predictions that will help us navigate what comes tomorrow. Personally, I’m not much of a planner, nor do I often check the weather forecast. But there is one prediction I feel compelled to make: the rise of ChatGPT and other AI tools will create cognitive dependency in many, many people.
Cognitive dependency has several applications in psychology. Generally speaking, the term suggests that a person or group of people tend to become dependent on something (usually external) to be able to think, cope or emote. Think back to when you first encountered spell-check technology. At first, you probably continued to proofread your writing. But as you got more used to this now-ubiquitous tool, your brain gradually became dependent on it. In general, it’s no longer useful to practice spelling, so we’ve allowed that skill to deteriorate. This is a fairly low-stakes development.
In the case of AI, I believe the risks of cognitive dependency are much greater, because the skills it can “replace” are not only broader in scope, but fundamental to the miracle of human cognition. Things like creativity, problem solving, and critical thinking are threatened by the accessibility of AI. The more we come to depend on AI for quick answers, the less we can rely on our own brains to muscle through difficult problems.
And here’s the kicker: I’m not at all against AI. I believe it can be of great benefit to humanity–not as a savior, but as a tool in the hands of humans. And like all advanced tools, we must master the fundamentals before we can wield it safely.
As a woodworker, I plan all my own furniture and project designs, without using patterns. What’s more, I do so with pencil and graph paper, compasses, rulers, and drafting tools, never in the CAD software available to me. Why? If I draw it, I stay rooted in the fundamentals of design. If the dimensions and angles flow from my brain, through my hand, and onto the paper, I am more cognitively connected to the craft. I follow many fundamental design guidelines and criteria–I’m not reinventing furniture design–but I’m also not following a pre-set, prescribed pattern that takes part or most of my own thinking out of the equation. These choices are fundamental to my creative process. Woodworking is fulfilling because the tables and chairs I build emerge from my own imagination, and, through analog tools, eventually become real objects in the world.
During a recent coaching meeting, a fairly high-level leader, one in whom I’d witnessed great intelligence and creativity, asked me if I was afraid that my role as an executive coach would be replaced by AI. As I so often do in my coaching, I answered the question with a question: “Are you concerned that leaders like yourself can be replaced by AI?” What came next made me adore this leader even more than before: “Not at all,” responded the leader, “as long as I keep humanizing my leadership.”
This beautiful answer describes the path we must take to avoid my dire prediction. As long as the human processes of creativity and critical thinking are prioritized over efficiency and ease, we will not become cognitively dependent on AI. If we insist on the primacy of human intelligence, both individual and collective, we will keep AI in its proper role: as a helpful tool, and nothing more.
I don’t practice my spelling– haven’t since 9th or 10th grade, and when spell-check came along, I knew I’d never need to. However, I insist on taking any opportunity to practice my creative and critical thinking skills, my independent and interdependent problem-solving abilities, and my basic humanness. Yes, I’ll use AI to jumpstart a brainstorm or generate more refined groupings of data, but not to do my thinking for me. I want to prove my prediction wrong and think for myself as long as I can.
If you’d like a thought partner in the form of a leadership coach, want training pertaining to effective mindsets for leaders and teams, or just want to toss around some creative ideas with a fellow human, please reach out to me at [email protected]. I’d love to work with you!
Comments (0)