Something subtle but profound is happening.

A recent MIT study confirmed what many have quietly felt: using AI tools like ChatGPT — even just once — can dampen cognitive engagement. Participants who leaned on LLMs showed diminished brain activity, lower memory recall, and a weaker sense of ownership over their work.

Since its release, the study has appeared in Time, Nature, The Hill, and The Washington Post. That attention isn’t just noise — it’s a cultural signal.

As generative AI seeps deeper into our workflows, it’s not only changing what we create. It’s reshaping who we become while creating it.

That said, context matters. When I was at the SANS Institute, I worked with the OpenAI ChatGPT for Edu team — and what was more impressive than their onboarding were the use cases from educational institutions trying to adopt Gen AI responsibly. Applied collaboratively, AI can perhaps mitigate some of that cognitive loss rather than accelerate it.

The challenge isn’t just technical — it’s philosophical:

• What do we trade away in the name of efficiency?
• Can we still intervene — intentionally — before the drift becomes irreversible?

We don’t need to reject AI. We need to reframe our relationship with it — as co-creator, provocateur, and mirror. Not replacement.

Designing for that future isn’t easy. But it’s urgent.