Claiming that AI assistants will cause cognitive decline is like saying library catalogs, the Dewey Decimal System, and/or hiring a great secretary will do the same.
If you’re intellectually lazy, AI might accelerate that decline—but if you’re intellectually lazy, you’ve likely already lost those skills.
We are already seeing it. Like someone mentioned below, do you have all the numbers in your phone memorized? I’m going to bet not because you no longer need to. I was thinking about that just the other day. I am guilty of this myself and what would I do if I got arrested for some stupid reason.
Would the officer be cool and let me use my own phone to call a family member? Or would I be stuck in the tank with a wall phone and no numbers in my head to even call anyone... That is when I realized it is already happening and it is indeed inevitable for the majority who become dependent on convenient handy technology.
The main problem is once it becomes a trend everyone gets sucked into it whether they want to or not. Just try to find a phone booth... Or somewhere along the road to buy a map... No one even carries maps anymore when every gas station used to have them.