Don't let AI do your thinking for you
The more people trust AI, the less critical thinking they tend to do. In a 2025 study by researchers at Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon, Hao-Ping Lee and colleagues surveyed 319 knowledge workers about 936 real tasks and found that higher confidence in AI was linked to less critical thinking, while higher confidence in their own skills was linked to more. AI can save you time, but only if you keep your own judgment switched on.
I'll admit something. There have been days I've asked AI a question I absolutely knew the answer to, just because it was faster than thinking.
That's fine once in a while. It's not fine as a habit.
Because the thing your clients pay you for isn't typing. It's judgment. And judgment is a muscle. Stop using it, and it gets weaker.
What the research found
In 2025, Hao-Ping Lee and a team from Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon University surveyed 319 people who use AI tools at work. They collected 936 real examples of how those people used AI on the job.
Two patterns stood out.
When people had more confidence in the AI, they reported doing less critical thinking. They checked less, questioned less, and accepted more.
When people had more confidence in their own abilities, they reported doing more critical thinking. They pushed back, checked the work, and made it their own.
The researchers also noticed that AI changes what thinking looks like. Instead of doing the task, people spend more time checking the AI's work and fitting it into the real situation. That's still thinking. But only if you actually do it.
Why this matters for business owners
If you run a business, you're the one making the calls. Which offer to launch. How to price it. How to handle the client who's upset. What to say to the employee who's struggling.
AI can give you a great starting point for all of those. It can't know your client like you do. It can't feel the room on a sales call. And it doesn't have to live with the decision. You do.
AI also sounds equally sure of itself whether it's right or wrong, which I wrote about in Don't trust AI just because it sounds sure. And there are certain kinds of tasks where it quietly does worse than you would on your own, which I covered in Where AI makes smart people worse.
How to use AI and keep your judgment
Think first, then ask. Before you open AI, jot down your own answer in one or two sentences. Then compare. You'll be surprised how often your gut was right.
Ask it to argue with you. "What's wrong with this plan?" is more useful than "write me a plan."
Keep the decision. AI can lay out options. You choose, and you say why.
Check anything that matters. Numbers, facts, names, quotes, anything going to a client.
Protect your core skills. If writing proposals is how you win business, don't hand off every proposal. Write some yourself, even if AI helps you edit.
What it looks like
A client of mine started using AI to draft responses to tough client emails. At first it was a lifesaver. Then she noticed something. She'd started sending replies that were polite and polished, but didn't really say what she thought.
Now she writes three bullet points first: what she actually wants to say. Then she uses AI to smooth it out. The emails sound like her again, and she feels like she's running her business instead of approving drafts.
The bottom line
Use AI to go faster. Don't use it to stop thinking. The more you trust your own judgment, the better you'll use the tool.
If you want someone to think things through with you every week, a real person, not a chatbot, let's talk.
Frequently asked questions
Does AI reduce critical thinking?
A 2025 study by Lee and colleagues found that knowledge workers who had more confidence in AI reported less critical thinking, while those with more confidence in their own abilities reported more.
How can I use AI without losing my skills?
Form your own answer before asking AI, ask it to critique your ideas, keep the final decision yourself, and keep doing the core tasks your business depends on.
What should I always check in AI output?
Check numbers, facts, names, quotes, and anything that will go to a client or affect a decision. AI can sound confident even when it's wrong.
Sources: Lee, H.-P., Sarkar, A., Tankelevitch, L., Drosos, I., Rintel, S., Banks, R., & Wilson, N. (2025). The impact of generative AI on critical thinking: Self-reported reductions in cognitive effort and confidence effects from a survey of knowledge workers. Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
