The Psychology of your 20s 382. How is AI actually impacting our brains?
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Feb 5, 2026 Conversation about how AI can turn active thinkers into passive users and weaken practiced reasoning. Discussion of neural plasticity, GPS-style cognitive offloading, and studies linking AI use to poorer recall. Exploration of humanlike chatbots, the ELIZA effect, and risks when AI replaces real connection or therapy. Practical strategies to preserve curiosity, creativity, and divergent thinking in an AI age.
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AI Turns Thinking Passive
- Generative AI shifts users from active to passive cognitive roles by delivering polished answers without requiring evaluation.
- Jemma Sbeg warns this reduces our habit of searching, comparing, and interrogating information over time.
Brain Rewires To What It Repeats
- Repeated use of tools changes the brain by strengthening practiced skills and discarding unused ones.
- Jemma compares AI to GPS reducing hippocampal spatial memory and warns AI can offload many cognitive chains.
Keep Core Research Human
- Refuse to offload core research and reasoning tasks if you want depth and ownership of your work.
- Jemma Sbeg personally avoids AI for podcast research to preserve engagement and depth.