AI can amplify intelligence—but only when humans keep ownership of the question, the evidence, and the final judgment.
By Prof. Aecio D’Silva, PhD ·
Artificial Intelligence & Critical Thinking
SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES
You ask AI to write, and it writes. You ask it to think, and it proposes an argument. You ask it to decide, and it ranks the options. At first, this feels like pure efficiency. The danger begins when assistance becomes substitution: you stop framing the problem, testing the evidence, or explaining why the final answer deserves your name.
That pattern is called cognitive offloading. It is not automatically harmful. Notes, calendars, calculators, maps, and search engines all reduce mental effort. The real question is whether the tool frees your mind for higher-order thinking—or quietly replaces the thinking you needed to practice.
The goal is not to use less AI. It is to preserve more human agency while using it.
Read more
