STRONGER TOGETHER: AI’s impact on the human brain

"STRONGER TOGETHER" is a weekly column where Tanya explores key issues. This week, Tanya discusses our growing reliance on AI and how it could be eroding our critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

By IMPACT Community Services Managing Director Tanya O'Shea

The conversation about artificial intelligence is everywhere: in the media, in our workplaces, and around dinner tables with friends and family. Most of the discussion focuses on productivity, efficiency and growth. Yet a more fundamental question is often overlooked: what happens to the human brain when we outsource too much of our thinking to machines?

At a conference I attended recently, a woman stood up and bluntly suggested that AI was making us “dumb”. At the time, I thought the comment was overly harsh. On reflection, however, her concern was probably valid, even if it could have been delivered with more subtlety.

Could our growing reliance on AI be quietly eroding our ability to think critically, solve problems and make everyday judgments that support sound decision-making?

Hebbian theory, often summarised as “cells that fire together, wire together”, tells us that the brain strengthens the neural pathways it uses regularly and sheds those it doesn’t. When we stop engaging in effortful thinking, the neural networks that support those skills can weaken over time.

This matters because in our homes, workplaces, communities and governments, we rely on people making informed decisions. Activities such as evaluating information, researching complex issues, wrestling with ambiguity, or debating ideas with colleagues all help strengthen neural pathways associated with critical thinking, reasoning, creativity and focus. When these tasks are routinely handed over to AI, those capabilities risk gradual atrophy.

Neuroscience also shows that critical thinking is not a single skill, but the coordination of multiple brain networks, including executive control, conflict detection, perspective-taking and relevance filtering. When AI performs these functions for us, we risk diminishing our capacity to filter information ourselves. Paradoxically, this may increase cognitive overload rather than reduce it, with potential implications for motivation, persistence and mental well-being.

Ultimately, the goal is balance. Used intentionally, AI can enhance human performance. Used without reflection, it risks weakening the very cognitive capabilities that make individuals and organisations resilient, innovative and future-ready.