Is ChatGPT Making Us Less Intelligent or Smarter in a Different Way 2025

Is ChatGPT Making Us Less Intelligent or Smarter: In 2008, The Atlantic sparked debate with its headline story: Is Google Making Us Stupid? In the lengthy essay, which Nicholas Carr later turned into a book, he argued that technology—particularly search engines—was diminishing Americans’ capacity for deep thought and memory retention.

Carr’s main worry centered on the notion that people didn’t need to remember facts or information anymore, since they could simply look up answers online. There is some validity to this argument, but search engines still demand users to employ critical thinking when interpreting and understanding the information they find.

The Evolution from Search Engines to Generative AI

Today, we’re witnessing an even more dramatic change in technology. The advent of tools like ChatGPT signals a shift: users are no longer just offloading memory but perhaps even the process of thinking itself. Generative AI can do more than just fetch facts—it can generate, explain, and summarize information. This marks a key turning point, as generative AI could, in effect, substitute for human thought and creativity.

This leads to an important question: Is ChatGPT making us less intelligent?

As someone who researches information systems and has worked with AI for over twenty years, I’ve observed this evolution up close. With more people relying on AI to handle cognitive tasks, it’s essential to assess what benefits we gain and what abilities we may risk losing.

The Illusion of Knowledge: Dunning‑Kruger and AI

Generative AI is reshaping how information is accessed and processed. Many people now skip sifting through multiple sources and grappling with conflicting perspectives, instead accepting the concise, polished output AI provides within moments. While the accuracy of these responses can vary, their speed and clarity are undeniable. This shift has already made a significant impact on our work routines and thinking habits.

However, the ease can have drawbacks. When we allow AI to complete our tasks and think for us, we might be weakening our skills in critical analysis, complex problem‑solving, and deep learning. Although current research is limited, being passive recipients of AI‑generated material may suppress curiosity, shorten attention spans, and create a reliance that stunts cognitive growth over time.

To better grasp the issue, consider the Dunning‑Kruger effect. This principle describes how people with the least knowledge are often the most overconfident, unaware of what they lack. More skilled individuals, recognizing the complexities involved, tend to be less certain.

This idea relates to generative AI in that some users rely on ChatGPT to replace their own efforts, while others use it to build on their knowledge. Those who lean completely on AI might think they understand a topic—when in fact, they are simply repeating what the AI provides. In this way, AI can give an illusion of knowledge, reducing genuine intellectual effort.

This pattern creates two different ways people engage with AI. Some become stranded at the “peak of Mount Stupid,” using these tools instead of their own thinking; others use AI’s capabilities to extend their own cognitive reach.

Ultimately, how one uses generative AI is what matters most. Using ChatGPT without question can promote mental laziness. Accepting its answers without further examination, searching for alternative ideas, or doing deeper research can limit true understanding. If applied thoughtfully, however, AI can spark curiosity, help generate new ideas, clarify difficult subjects, and open up meaningful dialogue.

Implications for Work and Learning

The widespread adoption of generative AI, especially ChatGPT—which amassed 100 million users within just two months—has brought the internet community to a crucial point. One road leads toward declining intellectual independence, relying on AI to handle all our reasoning. The other offers the chance to build sharper minds by partnering with these tools and using them to add to our own talents.

There’s a saying: AI won’t take your job, but someone who uses AI will. But in practice, those who let AI do all their thinking are likely to remain stuck at the top of “Mount Stupid,” making themselves easier to replace. The people who succeed will be those who use AI to supplement and extend their own skills, combining human and machine strengths to achieve results unattainable by either alone. This, I believe, represents the future direction of our work and learning.

Although we began by asking if ChatGPT will make us less intelligent, perhaps the better focus is: How can we use ChatGPT to make ourselves smarter? In the end, the outcome depends less on the tool itself and more on how we choose to make use of it.

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