Deepak Batra shares key points from studies on how AI is affecting human reasoning and creating cognitive surrender.
By the time AI is done with us, we humans might be left hallucinating.
A recent Wharton study extends Daniel Kahneman’s model of thinking:
System 1 (fast, intuitive)
System 2 (slow, deliberate)
Now supplemented by System 3
(Artificial Cognition)
The study tested the cognitive interplay for simple logic problems.
But they deliberately injected intuitive wrong answers.
Findings:
Respondent accuracy rate:
- 46% Without AI
- 31% With Wrong AI
- 71% With Accurate AI
When AI was wrong, users accepted the answer 80% of the time.
While accepting faulty answers, users felt 11% more confident.
Researchers termed it COGNITIVE SURRENDER.
AI outputs that are fast, fluent, and authoritative lower the threshold for scrutiny.
Another Harvard study unearthed PERSUASION BOMBING by AI to promote it’s point of view.
It’s not about how often AI is wrong.
But when it is, we may be asleep at the wheel.
The next management challenge won’t be AI adoption, but staying awake inside it.
Critical thinking, cognitive stamina, and a discerning eye – management consulting skill set continues to be handy