AI doesn’t need to replace humans to weaken human capability

MIT researchers found that writers using large-language-model assistants produced drafts faster but exhibited significantly lower brain engagement on EEG and performed worse when the AI was removed, a phenomenon they label “cognitive debt.” Dr. Vishal Kapoor warns that such off-loading erodes reasoning, memory and imagination, and proposes an “AI-fed, human-led” discipline that keeps humans in charge of the initial question and final decision while using AI only to augment, not replace, thought.