Their reasoning seems valid - common sense says the less you do something the more your skill atrophies - but this study doesn’t seem to have measured people’s critical thinking skills. It measured how the subjects felt about their skills. People who feel like they’re good at a job might not feel as adequate when their job changes to evaluating someone else’s work. The study said the subjects felt that they used their analytical skills less when they had confidence in the AI. The same thing happens when you get a human assistant - as your confidence in their work grows you scrutinize it less. But that doesn’t mean you yourself become less skillful. The title saying use of AI “kills” critical thinking skill isn’t justified, and is very clickbaity IMO.
Their reasoning seems valid - common sense says the less you do something the more your skill atrophies - but this study doesn’t seem to have measured people’s critical thinking skills. It measured how the subjects felt about their skills. People who feel like they’re good at a job might not feel as adequate when their job changes to evaluating someone else’s work. The study said the subjects felt that they used their analytical skills less when they had confidence in the AI. The same thing happens when you get a human assistant - as your confidence in their work grows you scrutinize it less. But that doesn’t mean you yourself become less skillful. The title saying use of AI “kills” critical thinking skill isn’t justified, and is very clickbaity IMO.