There’s a growing debate in tech, education, and psychology circles about the effect of tools like ChatGPT and other generative AI on the human mind. Some argue that we are becoming mentally lazy—outsourcing our thinking, writing, and ideation to machines. Others claim it’s just the next step in the evolution of productivity.
But I’ve been thinking: Is it really mental laziness? Or are we witnessing a rare moment of mental liberation?
Let me walk you through this.
The Rise of Generative AI and the Fear of Brain Rot
Generative AI can perform tasks that used to require hours of human effort—summarising texts, brainstorming strategies, writing emails, drafting code, composing poetry, and even simulating philosophical arguments. And it does this in seconds.
Understandably, this raises concerns:
Are we still thinking deeply?
Will this technology rot our brains?
Are we dulling our cognitive muscles by relying on something that “thinks” for us?
These fears aren’t unfounded. Any tool that reduces effort can also reduce engagement if we’re not mindful. But to stop at this critique is to miss the bigger question:
What Happens When Machines Outsmart Us—At Least in Speed?
AI’s speed is unmatched. No human being can draft a 2,000-word essay, write a business plan, and translate it to French in 30 seconds. But rather than compete with AI at what it does best, shouldn’t we consider what it’s now freeing us to do?
This moment in history may be less about replacement and more about reallocation—not the end of human thinking, but the beginning of a new kind of thought.
So here’s the central question I’ve been wrestling with:
Now that we have machines to handle structured thinking and predictable tasks, what new areas of thought can humans begin to explore?
Have We Reached the Edge of Human Thought?
It’s tempting to assume that most of the big questions have already been asked. Libraries are full. Google has an answer for everything. ChatGPT can explain most of it.
But this assumption is misleading. What we’re good at collecting is existing knowledge. What we struggle with is creating new knowledge.
Have we truly exhausted the limits of what the human mind can explore? Or have we simply over-invested in what is already known, because we never had the mental time to pursue the unknown?
This is where generative AI enters as a cognitive disruptor.
The Case for Mental Freedom
What if generative AI isn’t making us lazy—but liberating our minds from routine tasks?
What if, instead of fearing the speed and breadth of what AI can do, we focused on what it can’t?
Imagine what becomes possible if we spend less time writing generic reports or replying to repetitive emails and more time pondering unsolved problems, exploring existential questions, designing alternative futures, or creating new systems of meaning.
AI handles the known.
We can now dive into the not-yet-known.
So, What Should We Be Thinking About?
Here are just a few of the deep, exciting areas where human thought can—and must—lead:
- Unexplored philosophies: Non-Western ways of knowing, indigenous worldviews, and spiritual paradigms that defy linear logic.
- Ethics of coexistence: What kind of moral code should guide humans and machines living side by side?
- New economic visions: Beyond capitalism and socialism—what alternative systems of value can we design?
- Intergenerational thinking: How do we plan for life 200 years from now, not just 20?
- Non-anthropocentric perspectives: What would it mean to build societies that also consider the needs of rivers, animals, and ecosystems?
- Redesigning education: If information is free and fast, what should schools really be teaching?
This is the time to ask questions that can’t be Googled. That doesn’t yet exist in training data. That requires the kind of chaotic, nonlinear, emotional, and intuitive thought that machines haven’t mastered—and maybe never will.
But Isn’t AI Infinite? Can’t It Eventually Do Even That?
That’s another deep question. I’m tempted to say AI is finite, even if it feels infinite.
Why? Because generative AI doesn’t truly invent—it remixes. It draws from enormous amounts of data, combining and simulating ideas in clever ways. But its output is fundamentally bounded by what it’s been trained on.
No matter how advanced it gets, AI is still operating within the walls of what humans have already thought, written, or created.
Human imagination, by contrast, can leap beyond data. We can dream of things we’ve never seen. We can act irrationally, believe in impossible things, or imagine entirely new systems that no dataset could have predicted yet.
From Libraries to Language Models: A Shift in Human Learning
Historically, our knowledge systems were built on libraries, literature, and lineage—building on what others had done. Google made this faster. AI made it near-instant.
But the real transformation isn’t just speed—it’s where we focus our minds now that we have tools to do the rest.
The future isn’t about learning faster.
It’s about asking better questions.
The challenge is no longer: What can I find?
The challenge is: What has never been asked?
A Final Word: What Will You Use Your Brain For?
This isn’t a technological question. It’s a deeply human one.
Generative AI is not the end of thinking—it’s the beginning of thinking differently. But only if we embrace it as a partner in progress, not a crutch for convenience.
So the real task ahead is not just learning how to use AI.
It’s learning how to reclaim our human imagination.
Because if we don’t—if we stop asking new questions—then yes, maybe we are on the road to mental stagnation.
But if we rise to the moment, then this might just be the greatest liberation of human thought in centuries.
So, what new questions are you ready to explore?
Join the Conversation
I would love to hear from you.
Footnote
Almost philosophical thread running through your reflection—about human cognition, the outsourcing of mental labour, the nature of creativity, and the trajectory of our species in an age of AI. (from my AI assistant)
Africa Thinkers 