Relying on AI to complete work duties may not be diminishing our cognitive abilities, but it can undermine confidence in our own independent reasoning and perceived ownership of ideas, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.
The study included 1,923 online adult participants from the United States and Canada who were told to use commercially available AI programs to complete 10 simulated work tasks, such as developing plans with incomplete or evolving information, interpreting ambiguous data, and articulating reasoning for strategic decisions.
After the tasks, 58% of the participants agreed that AI "did most of the thinking" to complete the work, especially in activities related to planning or sequencing. Those participants also reported reduced confidence in their own independent reasoning, lesser perceived ownership of ideas, and making trade-offs between task speed and depth of thought. Men reported higher levels of AI reliance than women.
However, participants who actively modified, challenged, or rejected AI suggestions reported greater confidence and a stronger sense of authorship, said study author Sarah Baldeo, MBA, a PhD candidate in AI and neuroscience at Middlesex University in England.
"The issue was not AI use itself but the degree of passive acceptance," she said. "Participants who used AI but still maintained oversight and active judgment tended to feel more confident in their own reasoning."
The research was published in the online journal Technology, Mind, and Behavior. The study findings are correlational so can't prove causation.
AI programs should be developed to prompt users to not rely too heavily on AI content, think of their own alternatives, and review assumptions, the journal article stated.
"Broadly, the best way to use AI is to train it rather than letting it train you," Baldeo said. "Program it to function for specific uses, and stop anthropomorphizing AI."
Baldeo offered some other tips:
- Try solving a problem yourself before asking AI programs to do the work for you.
- Refine AI prompts at least two or three times to receive a more high-quality response that also engages your own cognitive abilities.
- Take at least two or three days off each week from using AI programs at work to avoid the risk of "intellectual leveling" where people start to linguistically sound like AI from overuse.
"The potential long-term risks aren't that AI makes people less intelligent but that some users may become less engaged in the deeper cognitive work that produces novel thinking," Baldeo said. "That is why the distinction between AI assistance and overreliance is so important."
Article: " Generative AI Reliance and Executive Function Attenuation: Behavioral Evidence of Cognitive Offload in High-Use Adults ," Sarah Baldeo, MBA, Middlesex University; Technology, Mind, and Behavior; published online April 16, 2026.
