Die Menschen lagern ihr Denken an KI aus

Lila Shroff: “Many people are becoming reliant on AI to navigate some of the most basic aspects of daily life. A colleague suggested that we might even call the most extreme users ‘LLeMmings’—yes, because they are always LLM-ing, but also because their near-constant AI use conjures images of cybernetic lemmings unable to act without guidance. For this set of compulsive users, AI has become a primary interface through which they interact with the world. The emails they write, the life decisions they make, and the questions that consume their mind all filter through AI first. 

“Three years into the AI boom, an early picture of how heavy AI use might affect the human mind is developing. For some, chatbots offer emotional companionship; others have found that bots reinforce delusional thinking (a condition that some have deemed ‘AI psychosis’). The LLeMmings, meanwhile, are beginning to feel the effects of repeatedly outsourcing their thinking to a computer. 

“James Bedford, an educator at the University of New South Wales who is focused on developing AI strategies for the classroom, started using LLMs almost daily after ChatGPT’s release. Over time, he found that his brain was defaulting to AI for thinking, he told me. One evening, he was trying to help a woman retrieve her AirPod, which had fallen between the seats on the train. He noticed that his first instinct was to ask ChatGPT for a solution. ‘It was the first time I’d experienced my brain wanting to ask ChatGPT to do cognition that I could just do myself,’ he said. That’s when he realized ‘I’m definitely becoming reliant on this.’ After the AirPod incident, he decided to take a month-long break from AI to reset his brain. ‘It was like thinking for myself for the first time in a long time,’ he told me. ‘As much as I enjoyed that clarity, I still went straight back to AI afterwards.’

“New technologies expand human capabilities, but they tend to do so at a cost. Writing diminished the importance of memory, and calculators devalued basic arithmetic skills, as the philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah recently wrote in this magazine. The internet, too, has rewired our brains in countless ways, overwhelming us with information while pillaging our attention spans. That AI is going to change how we think isn’t a controversial idea, nor is it necessarily a bad thing. But people should be asking, ‘*What new capabilities and habits of thought will it bring out and elicit? And which ones will it suppress?*,’ Tim Requarth, a neuroscientist who directs a graduate science-writing program at NYU’s school of medicine, told me.”

Read more: [https://theatln.tc/hy4k6m4X](https://theatln.tc/hy4k6m4X)

this is just natural progression. most people want to be told what to do in their day to day life, we have observed this for 1000s of years. now its just instant feedback as opposed to receiving marching orders down the rank and file.

My teenager refers to these folks as „secondhand thinkers“ which I think is great.

Let’s be honest… The people “outsourcing” thinking to AI never did much thinking to begin with

I’ve had to intentionally stop using AI for thinking – which kind of sucks because AI is faster and thinking for myself is inefficient.

But hey, I don’t want my brain to atrophy to shit, or certainly not dementia when I’m 50.

If you need *help* thinking, tell the AI to be an assistant and to help you think your way to an answer.

Also, don’t be reliant on GPS.

As an aside, is there any evidence that writing has diminished memory or calculators have diminished arithmetic skills? It sounds plausible at first glance, but on reflection I think memory and math skills are improved because writing and calculators make both skills more important.