UNLEASH Column: Is AI Causing Cognitive Decline?
Note: Our team is working closely with UNLEASH this year on a series of activities, including a quarterly column penned by yours truly. This is the first in the series as I bring research to show that the newest fad, generative AI, may have long-lasting and dangerous side effects.
What if the tools used by millions of people every day are actually eroding our ability to think?
One of the topics I’ve begun to incorporate into my speaking and education on artificial intelligence is the impact it can have on human cognitive skills and creativity. It’s a theme highlighted in my upcoming Artificial Intelligence for HR (3rd edition) that will be publishing later in 2025.
A number of different research efforts have begun to produce evidence that overreliance on AI can negatively affect our ability to think and innovate—a concerning prospect.
This happens in a variety of ways. For starters, imagine trying to build a house. You’re trying to put the roof on, but the walls were built quickly and with little effort. It’s likely that the roof will cave in or fall over because it doesn’t have a strong enough structure to hold it up.
That same scaffolding of skills is the focus here.
Within the HR context, a parallel is this: many of us that work in the HR world started out in the file room.
We saw how processes worked, how decisions were made, and what the flow of information looked like.
Then, as we matured in our careers, we could make our own decisions with judgment and insight based on those early experiences.
But if we skipped all of that experiential learning because AI was handling it… Could we truly make an intelligent decision as a manager, Director, or VP of HR (or executive leader in talent or learning) if we didn’t have that foundational knowledge?
Put simply, foundational skills are needed as a basis for establishing more advanced skills. That’s actually a reason why experienced workers may benefit the most from generative AI in the workplace, in spite of early claims that inexperienced workers could get the most out of these new technologies.
Ben Eubanks is the Chief Research Officer at Lighthouse Research & Advisory. He is an author, speaker, and researcher with a passion for telling stories and making complex topics easy to understand.
His latest book Talent Scarcity answers the question every business leader has asked in recent years: “Where are all the people, and how do we get them back to work?” It shares practical and strategic recruiting and retention ideas and case studies for every employer.
His first book, Artificial Intelligence for HR, is the world’s most-cited resource on AI applications for hiring, development, and employee experience.
Ben has more than 10 years of experience both as an HR/recruiting executive as well as a researcher on workplace topics. His work is practical, relevant, and valued by practitioners from F100 firms to SMB organizations across the globe.
He has spoken to tens of thousands of HR professionals across the globe and enjoys sharing about technology, talent practices, and more. His speaking credits include the SHRM Annual Conference, Seminarium International, PeopleMatters Dubai and India, and over 100 other notable events.