The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking [pdf]

> our research questions - when and how knowledge workers perceive the enaction of critical thinking when using GenAI (RQ1), and when and why do knowledge workers perceive increased/decreased effort for critical thinking due to GenAI (RQ2)

This is about the application of critical thinking to AI outputs and in AI workflows. Are people cognitively lazy when some other entity hands them plausible sounding answers?

The answer of course is yes. If some entity gives you a good enough result, probably you aren’t going to spend much time improving it unless there is a good reason to do so. Likewise you probably aren’t going to spend a lot of time researching something that AI tells you if it sounds plausible. This is certainly a weakness, but it’s a general weakness in human cognition, and has little to do with AI in and of itself.

In my reading, what this study does not say, and does not set out to answer, is whether or not the use of AI makes people generally less able or likely to engage in critical thinking as a result of use of AI.

- areas that lack map details and obstructions that preclude straight line paths, e.g. deep forest

- wartime GPS blocking

- device failure incl battery

- errors in mapping data

- maps that contain other information not found in your GPS-enabled map

There is a reduction in certain kinds of effort when using any kind of tool.

Another possible explanation is that using LLMs, much like using a pry bar for leverage with physical energy, provides leverage for cognitive energies. Does the person using a pry bar become less physically fit than if they were removing floorboards by hand or do they just get more work done during the day?

I don't think there is a problem in exploring the trade-offs for using any kind of tool or technology but the discussion needs to be balanced.

Personally, I use LLMs but I'd say I have a critical understanding of their limitations and when it is better to start using another tool, like a book, to learn the skills required to use the tools to achieve the tasks at hand. I will say that using a tool that provides leverage for cognitive energies allows for the cognition to be applied to other parts of the process, typically higher order.

For example, I spend much more time thinking about the overall architecture of the memory model in C applications.

You know what humans are good at? Deluding ourselves. Because that's what you're doing. Using vague, feel-good words, based on vague analogies, no proof, to keep the inconvenient truth at bay. Not being able to navigate with a paper map is a big thing: people get lost inside buildings without a map. Next time the power fails, half of the GenZ will be lost. Not being able to write with pen and paper is a big thing. Not being able to add a few number is not as big a thing, but it certainly can be a problem. And what for? So you don't have to feel bad about using AI tools?

You know what comes next? Everything based on audio and video. Are you then going to argue: reading is an obsolete skill?

I remember the first time I traveled internationally. Incredible stress. I had a bunch of printouts with all the details. Still, I depended completely on the friend I was visiting. I literally didn't dare leave his house without him because I wasn't confident I could make it back without having to have him rescue me and didn't want to give him that trouble. Sure I had a bunch of info, but one wrong decision and my static stack of papers might not be enough to get me out of it.

Technology made an absolutely amazing difference. With GPS I could wander around a city aimlessly and still find a way to my hotel. I could figure out where the center was. The early incarnation was rough but amazing for the amount of stress relief it provided.

And modern tech? Just sci-fi magic. I can see both the usual sights and find various obscure ones and any business I might need. With Uber I could get a trip in random countries wherever needed without speaking the local language. Google now tells me about bus and tram routes, tells me what to take, where the station is, and what stations am I going to go through, and when I'm going to be there. There's a magic real time translator for both text and voice.