A new research featuring more than 300 knowledge workers is taking center stage as we speak and it’s talking about the use of AI in our daily lives.
The study published at CHI-25 shares more about how professionals from different fields are using generative AI to carry out routine tasks daily. The results prove that while AI does boost productivity, it can erode important cognitive skills.
There is a lot of confidence linked to Generative AI but that means humans are engaging less in critical thinking. Experts don’t feel that’s healthy because high self-esteem only comes with more you think critically. So relying on this technology might be doing your personal self little good.
The research experts call such a dynamic a major shift from producing materials to critical integration. This is where workers are spending much less time making content through scratch but they need to add in more efforts to better refine and verify the outputs generated through AI.
There are many experts out there today and so many AI tools that become such an important part of your life and the working world. As per the research, workers use AI assistants for all things such as writing codes and data analysis and drafting their own emails. They’re now making presentations through such means and about 97% of all those involved reported utilizing ChatGPT. Other tools such as Copilot by Microsoft and Gemini by Google are very popular.
As per the study, there are three main shifts in terms of how a professional engages with work when using AI. Some data gathering is transformed into data verification. Then problem solving switches to response integration and then task execution entails task stewardship.
One of the study’s participants highlights more details about the different challenges with AI including verification difficulties. It takes a lot of time to verify manually and the same goes for users in different professions. They need to keep on cross-referencing AI outputs against authentic sources.
One major factor why professionals rely on AI is limited time. They prefer high speeds over verification. If the tech is helping them save time, there’s nothing better and they don’t need to worry about the final results.
All researchers warned that such behavior patterns might give rise to cognitive atrophy. In other words, it greatly diminishes your mental capabilities when you start to rely more on AI to get the task done. Such a phenomenon is a reflection of concerns from the past about their personal struggles with something.
The research also noted that workers having greater confidence in themselves and their talents could engage with AI more critically. They would use tools to assist with judgments and not replace them entirely. These people were spending more time on evaluations and refinement of content made using AI, especially for tasks needing domain expertise.
So the take-home message from this study by researchers is companies need to create strategies to ensure employees’ critical thinking skills remain intact, with or without using AI. They recommend curating AI tools that market critical engagement instead of simple output acceptance blindly.
Image: DIW-Aigen
Read next: This Billionaire Battle Just Got Personal, Musk vs. Altman Is the AI Drama of the Year!
The study published at CHI-25 shares more about how professionals from different fields are using generative AI to carry out routine tasks daily. The results prove that while AI does boost productivity, it can erode important cognitive skills.
There is a lot of confidence linked to Generative AI but that means humans are engaging less in critical thinking. Experts don’t feel that’s healthy because high self-esteem only comes with more you think critically. So relying on this technology might be doing your personal self little good.
The research experts call such a dynamic a major shift from producing materials to critical integration. This is where workers are spending much less time making content through scratch but they need to add in more efforts to better refine and verify the outputs generated through AI.
There are many experts out there today and so many AI tools that become such an important part of your life and the working world. As per the research, workers use AI assistants for all things such as writing codes and data analysis and drafting their own emails. They’re now making presentations through such means and about 97% of all those involved reported utilizing ChatGPT. Other tools such as Copilot by Microsoft and Gemini by Google are very popular.
As per the study, there are three main shifts in terms of how a professional engages with work when using AI. Some data gathering is transformed into data verification. Then problem solving switches to response integration and then task execution entails task stewardship.
One of the study’s participants highlights more details about the different challenges with AI including verification difficulties. It takes a lot of time to verify manually and the same goes for users in different professions. They need to keep on cross-referencing AI outputs against authentic sources.
One major factor why professionals rely on AI is limited time. They prefer high speeds over verification. If the tech is helping them save time, there’s nothing better and they don’t need to worry about the final results.
All researchers warned that such behavior patterns might give rise to cognitive atrophy. In other words, it greatly diminishes your mental capabilities when you start to rely more on AI to get the task done. Such a phenomenon is a reflection of concerns from the past about their personal struggles with something.
The research also noted that workers having greater confidence in themselves and their talents could engage with AI more critically. They would use tools to assist with judgments and not replace them entirely. These people were spending more time on evaluations and refinement of content made using AI, especially for tasks needing domain expertise.
So the take-home message from this study by researchers is companies need to create strategies to ensure employees’ critical thinking skills remain intact, with or without using AI. They recommend curating AI tools that market critical engagement instead of simple output acceptance blindly.
Read next: This Billionaire Battle Just Got Personal, Musk vs. Altman Is the AI Drama of the Year!
