The Mind on Pause: Hidden Costs of AI

The Mind on Pause: Hidden Costs of AI

Artificial Intelligence has infiltrated every aspect of modern life including education, healthcare, business, and research. AI can now generate entire research papers, complete with citations, at the click of a button. But there’s a critical problem: many of those references are fabricated, and much of the “research” never existed. This is misinformation in disguise.

It raises troubling questions: Did we stop thinking for ourselves and thinking critically? How do we identify misinformation? How do we address plagiarism when so many people use identical prompts, producing similar responses? What happens to originality?

Even AI's creators acknowledge its inaccuracies and limitations (Korbeck, 2025). OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman expressed surprise at people's blind trust in AI.

Additionally, emerging research shows that heavy reliance on digital tools like AI in childhood may impair critical cognitive skills—attention, memory, and executive functions such as planning, decision-making, and impulse control (Zhang et al., 2025; Al-Omoush et al., 2024). More troubling, large-scale studies link these weakened early cognitive abilities to diminished neurocognitive functions in adulthood (Yu et al., 2025; Risko & Gilbert, 2016), revealing long-lasting neurological consequences.

Together, these trends expose two urgent challenges of the AI era—rampant misinformation and the gradual decline of cognition.

• Remember AI's role: It's a tool like a calculator or pen—helpful but never a replacement for human thinking. Creativity, nuance, and emotional depth cannot be replicated by algorithms, especially in their infancy.
• Embrace independent writing: Mistakes drive learning. Schools should prioritize independent writing with human assessment like teacher feedback and encourage students to express their own thoughts imperfectly. Let’s write badly—but let’s write what we think.
• Verify relentlessly: Question every AI-generated fact. Check sources, confirm authorship, and verify credibility through peer-reviewed journals and authentic publications.
• Use AI detection tools wisely: Teachers can employ AI detectors to spot plagiarism while understanding that these tools are not flawless.
• Practice transparency: Disclose AI usage clearly to maintain trust and accountability. For example: “I used ChatGPT-4 to review grammar and sentence structure in this article.”

While AI offers incredible benefits, we must remain cautious about the cognitive harm it can cause—especially to young minds that are more susceptible to misinformation. It’s also worth remembering that the scientists who transformed our understanding of science, mathematics, and other fields achieved their breakthroughs without AI. Their greatest tool was their mind—refined over 450 million years of evolution.

As we move into an AI-integrated future, our minds—and especially young minds—should be cultivated, not replaced.

• Al-Omoush, K., Al-Jarrah, M., & Bawaneh, A. (2024). Digital tools and cognitive development: Implications for education in the AI era. Journal of Educational Technology Research, 18(2), 55–70.
• Korbeck, J. (2025). The paradox of machine intelligence: Ethics, errors, and the illusion of accuracy. AI & Society Review, 42(1), 23–38.
• Risko, E. F., & Gilbert, S. J. (2016). Cognitive offloading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(9), 676–688.
• Yu, H., Zhang, L., & Li, J. (2025). Early cognitive load and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in the digital age. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 19, 114–128.
• Zhang, Q., Wang, Y., & He, C. (2025). Artificial intelligence exposure and executive function in children: A longitudinal study. Child Development Perspectives, 19(1), 44–58.