The Cognitive Cost of AI-Assisted Writing

In our rush to adopt artificial intelligence, we risk trading short-term efficiency for long-term intellectual erosion

- ROHIT KUMAR SINGH

THE PRINTING PRESS democratised knowledge, the typewriter professionalised it, and the personal computer personalised it. Each technological leap in writing triggered anxiety—and ultimately, empowerment. But the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), particularly tools like ChatGPT, raises a more disquieting question: Are we now outsourcing not just the act of writing, but the very act of thinking?

In India's rapidly digitising educational landscape, where edtech and AI are touted as panaceas, this question acquires added urgency. As AI tools gain traction in classrooms and workplaces, a growing body of research warns of the hidden cognitive costs of relying too heavily on them.

Less writing, less thinking