The world is captivated by AI. Nearly 1 billion people are engaging with OpenAI products — an impressive feat accomplished in just two years. It’s the classic Silicon Valley strategy: Create something exceptional, offer it affordably, get users hooked, and then figure out how to generate billions in revenue.

We are drawn to AI because it provides cognitive shortcuts on a scale never seen before. However, this trajectory may not end well for the majority of us. We might let AI take over a few tasks, and soon it could be handling all of them. This could lead to a loss of our mental faculties, our employment, and our opportunities.

Yet, this outcome is not inevitable. Here’s how to recognize the path ahead — and choose a different direction.

The beginning of the end

In March 2023, I experienced ChatGPT for the first time. Now, I rely on ChatGPT or Claude daily. AI has made my cognitive processes faster and more efficient. However, I am also becoming intellectually complacent.

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Initially, I had to thoroughly review AI’s drafts. But now, it provides a satisfactory first draft 90% of the time, diminishing my motivation to verify its work.

A year ago, I believed the workforce would split into “those who don’t use AI” and “those who do.” Now, I realize that perspective was flawed. In five years, everyone will utilize AI. The true division will be between those who manage their AIs — and those who delegate their thinking to it.

How outsourcing degrades our thinking

Humans have always delegated cognitive tasks. Before books, bards would memorize Homer’s entire Iliad. Today, technology extends our minds, allowing us to offload calculations, navigation, and note-taking. AI is different. It can manage nearly any cognitive task and appears productive. Thus, AI outsourcing begins innocuously. You ask AI to draft an email. It performs well and saves you 10 minutes. Next, you ask it to outline a presentation, and it excels.

You start relying on it for more complex tasks, like strategic planning. As you depend on AI to handle the workload, your skills gradually diminish. 

Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon released a study indicating that generative AI can diminish our critical thinking abilities. When knowledge workers trust AI’s outputs, they are less inclined to engage their own minds.

Those who trust AI (like myself) rely on themselves to be its fact-checker. However, there are two issues: 1) We overestimate our ability to spot AI’s errors, and 2) The allure of bypassing fact-checking becomes stronger. 

AI drivers vs. passengers

In the next decade, the knowledge workforce will split into two categories: AI drivers and AI passengers. AI passengers will eagerly delegate their cognitive tasks to AI. They’ll input a prompt into ChatGPT, copy the output, and present it as their own.

In the short term, they may be rewarded for completing tasks more quickly. However, as AI functions with reduced human oversight, passengers will be deemed redundant for contributing nothing to AI’s results. 

AI drivers will demand control over AI. They’ll use AI as a preliminary draft and meticulously review its work. Sometimes, they’ll turn it off to make time for independent thought.

In the long run, the economic gap between these groups will widen significantly. AI drivers will claim a larger portion of wealth, while passengers become expendable.

How to be an AI driver

Position yourself as AI’s leader in these ways: 

1. Start with what you know. Employ AI in areas where you have existing expertise; critically evaluate its outputs.

2. Engage in a dialogue rather than seeking answers. Don’t ask AI, “What should we do with our marketing budget?” Provide AI with constraints, inputs, options, and engage in a debate with it.

3. Be hyper-vigilant. Remain an active participant. Don’t assume the output is sufficient. Challenge yourself to ask, “Is this a good recommendation?”

4. Practice active skepticism. Continuously challenge AI with your perspective. “Isn’t that downplaying the risk of this venture?”

5. Resist outsourcing every first draft. The blank page may be daunting, but it’s essential for activating your mind.

6. Make the final decision, and own it. AI should assist with every medium-to-high stakes decision you make, but it doesn’t make the final call. Own your decisions as a human.

Your mind is a terrible thing to waste

With AI, you now have a thought partner available 24/7 with “expertise” on any subject. 

However, you’re also at a pivotal point. You’ll observe many colleagues opting out of “active thinking” and delegating their decision-making to AI. Many won’t even realize their cognitive skills have deteriorated until it’s too late. By then, it’ll be challenging to reverse the trend.

Don’t be that person. Use AI to challenge and enhance your thinking, not to replace it. 

The question isn’t, “Will you use AI?” The question is, “What kind of AI user do you want to be: driver or passenger?”

Greg Shove is the CEO of Section.