Answer extracted from the The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett podcast — listen to the full episode below.
How do you use AI in a way that strengthens rather than weakens your thinking?
You must interact with AI rather than defer your thinking to it, or the relationship becomes toxic. The key is questioning everything it produces—asking whether it's accurate, demanding better explanations—because that active interrogation creates new neural pathways that actually sharpen your critical thinking instead of eroding it.
The Toxic Trap: Thinking Deferred Is Thinking Lost
The danger isn't AI itself—it's passivity. When you hand over your thinking to an AI tool without engaging with the output, your brain shuts down. People are already deferring their thinking to these systems, and they're getting rewarded for it. Someone uploads AI-written essays to LinkedIn daily, getting more likes and reach than ever before, but what's on that profile isn't their authentic voice anymore—it's a generated persona.
As documented in research discussed in this episode, this passivity has measurable neurological consequences. People using AI tools without genuine engagement show significantly reduced brain activity in memory-related regions compared to those actively thinking through problems.
Interaction Over Automation: The Cognitive Muscle Approach
The antidote is straightforward but demands discipline: interact with the tool, don't let it replace you. Ask follow-up questions. Challenge the answers. Demand clarity and depth. This isn't a shortcut—it's a workout for your brain.
A neuroscientist working with AI clones containing all his books, research papers, and public television specials doesn't simply accept answers. He interrogates them, testing whether they hold up under scrutiny, using the AI as a thinking partner rather than a thinking substitute. Through this active engagement with the tool, he's actually building stronger cognitive circuits.
"You have to have a relationship with it or it's going to turn toxic. It's going to hurt you. But if you have a good relationship with it, it can make your life better."
Unknown Unknown — Brain Researcher and Child Psychiatrist, President of the Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) Foundation. Specializing in memory formation, neural development, and the cognitive impacts of technology on young people, he combines decades of research with direct experience integrating AI tools into his own intellectual practice.
The framing matters: you don't use AI to do your work—you use it to get better work out of yourself. Every question you ask, every pushback you make, the podcast explores in depth how these micro-decisions accumulate into either cognitive growth or cognitive atrophy.
The Historical Parallel: Calculators Were Once the Enemy Too
This tension is not new. When electronic calculators arrived 30 to 40 years ago, the same fears emerged: would people lose their mathematical minds? The answer turned out nuanced. Less brain activity occurred during calculation, yes. But calculators freed up cognitive space for higher-order mathematical thinking, making people simultaneously more accurate and more productive.
The lesson: tools themselves are neutral. The relationship you build with them—passive consumption versus active interrogation—determines whether they diminish or amplify your capability. AI is no exception, except the stakes are higher because it touches thinking itself, not just calculation.
Key takeaways
- AI becomes harmful when used passively; active engagement and questioning transforms it into a cognitive amplifier.
- Deferring your thinking to AI tools is already happening at scale, visibly degrading the authenticity of professional and social presence.
- The goal is interaction, not automation—each question you ask the tool strengthens critical thinking circuits in your brain.
- Historical precedent (calculators) shows that tools freed people from rote work but only if used actively; the same principle applies to AI today.
See also
How does passive consumption of AI-generated content affect memory encoding and brain activity compared to interactive engagement?
When people use AI tools without genuine interaction, they don't actually remember what they've produced, even minutes later, because their brains aren't actively engaged in the thinking process.
What are the neuroscience concerns regarding heavy daily use of AI tools by young people before long-term effects are fully understood?
Before we understand the long-term consequences, we can't predict where it's going to end up and it may take 20 years. The real issue is long-term use and how it shapes neural development over time.
What is the difference between the science of achievement and the art of fulfillment according to Tony Robbins, and why do both matter?
The science of achievement and the art of fulfillment are two completely distinct skills, and an extraordinary life requires mastery of both.