The modern human's best tool is our brain. We've already relegated much of our physical labor to machines. If we replace all of our thinking with AI generated thoughts, how different are we from the fictional humans in WALL-E who sit, eat, and mindlessly consume content? Not much, I'd argue.

Outsourcing makes you voluntarily dependent on someone/something else. America notoriously outsourced much of our manufacturing in the late 20th century, leading to our reliance on countries like Taiwan for semiconductors. And we've seen how difficult it is to reverse this decision.

This phenomenon has also happened with technological revolutions. Digital computers replaced the computers (the job title), robots replaced lots of menial labor, and generative AI is likely doing the same with general thinking. Like how private gyms were created around the time of the industrial revolution, I wonder if brain training centers will become a business model.

In all seriousness, I've already begun to see the detrimental effects of AI on my ability to think.

For one, I've relied on AI to help edit — or even rewrite from scratch — all of my writing this past year. Then Paul Graham wrote this article on how he thinks AI will change writing. For me, writing helps me distill my thoughts. Outsourcing my writing to AI seems dangerously close to outsourcing my thinking to AI, which is why I've decided to write without external help more often.

No online dictionary, no ChatGPT prompts. Just my ideas, a blank screen, and Google to cite my sources. I'm treating this as practice for long-form, well-researched articles. Gotta get those reps in.

I'd encourage you to take a good look at your own AI workflows. Be aware of what you're outsourcing to AI, whether that's writing, coding, or something else. Don't wait until your thinking muscle has atrophied.

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Find more of my thoughts on Twitter (@ethanweii).