Does Using AI Make us Less Confident in our Own Abilities?

­At a time when AI data centers are expanding astronomically to provide the otherworldly computing power needed to train AI models, you might be wondering about the psychological effect of exposing ourselves to an artificial entity that’s exponentially smarter and faster than humans. It’s not the best, as it turns out.

That’s according to a study by the American Psychological Association, which found that relying on AI for work undermined “confidence in our own independent reasoning and perceived ownership of ideas.”

However, according to study author Sarah Baldeo, MBA, a PhD candidate in AI and neuroscience at Middlesex University in England, “participants who actively modified, challenged, or rejected AI suggestions reported greater confidence and a stronger sense of authorship.”

“The issue was not AI use itself but the degree of passive acceptance,” she said.

At first glance, this might appear self-evident – not actually doing the work yourself eliminates the pride of…having done the work yourself. A sense of personal accomplishment usually requires one key aspect (and it’s in the name).

Moreover, the jury’s still out on whether using AI lowers our cognitive abilities, but it almost certainly won’t strengthen them, either. Many of the tasks being farmed out to AI – like critical thinking and writing – are like any other ability or skill. They require practice. And lowering the users’ confidence in the process definitely doesn’t help.

Let’s be honest – worker confidence is probably subordinate to the overall state of the market and accomplishing one’s tasks quickly and efficiently. But as AI becomes more prevalent – and it definitely will – its corollary effects (like human confidence) will begin to matter a lot more.