While you wrote about meta-learning as cognitive resistance training, I just dropped a piece on using AI to co-build understanding and actually learn how to do the task, not just delegate it.
Thinking partner is such interesting topics to explore and it’s also never-ending because we can cover it through multiple angles! Good to know u did same too :)
Michael, love that you’re thinking of these as tools on your belt. I personally use an app called Pinoto to save things I’ve already tested and want to keep as part of my “go-to” library. It’s like my curated shelf of prompts, tools, frameworks, and notes I actually use.
For stuff I want to try soon or keep top of mind, I just bookmark them in a folder on my browser bar so they’re always staring back at me, like Wyndo suggested.
What tools do you use generally? there’s a lot of ways to go about storing info.
Thanks for the tip on Pinoto. I have been added tools on the browser bar since Wyndo shared.
Notebook LM for study. My fault with it is I want to save everything into it. The dev guy Steven * suggests we use NLM with an everything Notebook and then create specialized ones. I’m not there yet. I have thought about putting all of your posts into a special notebook. Would you be okay with that?
I made the decision to use Magai.co because I can use multiple LLMs. In fact I can switch to another one with a drop down menu. Saves the frustration of dealing with a hallucinating LLM. I can change without having to upload all the info again. Can I offer you my affiliate link?
I also export my chats to the hard drive via Pages and save them in various formats. PDFs and doc x.
AI is not shrinking your brain. You're shrinking your brain with the help of AI.
You choose the relationship you have with AI. You set the tone. You can totally craft interactions that push you, that challenge you, that force you to think better, do better, be better. That capability has been given to us - and it's laughably simple to do. Not easy... because we are literally wired to seek the path of least resistance, to find the easiest meal, to do the least dangerous thing. How else would the human race have survived all those centuries of adversity? Keeping your head down and delegating to something/someone else is part of who we are.
You 100% have the power to override your own wiring and reconditioning. That's your choice. You can use AI to do exactly that - which is where the opportunity lies.
If you reject AI because of your choices and your actions, you've just deepened the downward spiraling cycle.
For some reason, I believe in you, though. I know for a fact, you can choose better. But that's your choice to make. I can only sit back and watch what you decide.
Agree with your points that by default, we tend to fall into least resistance path, hence we dont put so much effort to work and think with AI, instead, most of us let AI think for us. This will have bad impact over long term.
I have read and commented on another writer's post on this MIT research topic. I think this topic centers on an interesting but flawed research project by MIT. I will agree that working with AI has accelerated my ability to produce written articles.
However, I am also experiencing something quite different. I am able to read and digest articles such as yours here and produce comments on these articles quickly and fluently in my own voice with no help from AI. This is a radical change. And it's something that MIT should explore.
The MIT researchers should go back to these very same students and ask them to write a paper with no help from AI. I believe the same students have gained abilities that were not measured.
When I choose to write something to a personal friend or business associate, I am enjoying the process without relying upon AI. MIT should explore how that happened. They might compare an unassisted composition to an earlier unassisted composition to see if the students might produce papers now that far exceed what they did before they used AI.
FOOTNOTE: I wrote this comment without any assistance from AI. :-)
I bet they need to do follow up study on this. It’s still half-baked and there’s so much room to explore and assess.
Thats cool!
For me it makes me more critical about analyzing the outputs and keep questioning until I’m satisfied. My brainstorm sessions gets longer and eventually I think better at my problem.
This has to be one of the best posts I've read so far when it comes to AI.
The majority of people aren't emphasizing enough on the things you do, and that's why I love your content.
Other than that, when you asked "Whether I would be able to defend something in front of something", I realized that I would be able to, so I was definitely able to answer tons of questions
Although I wasn't able to answer the last question, perhaps I need to become even more aware of what I am doing when I am using AI to do something.
Personally my best ideas are coming when I least expected them (when I was drinking coffee or doing some laptop repairing). Regarding the AI, I think that not questioning its angles is a massive danger. Regarding my mind? I plan 2-3 backup plan in case the the main one fails, while mentally preparing to write them on paper with steps, frameworks, possible outcomes and the level of uncertainty that can apply. I do some brainstorming with the AI but I always verify and question every output it gives me. Anyways, good article and I'm glad someone is looking at possible mental dangers that can arise from using/trusting too much an AI.
I think most people will have this problem but the question is whether they realize they need to fix it or not.
The more I do this, the more I become more critical with AI answers and the more I have more disagreement with AI. Never settle with their first answer and always questioning!
Regarding people, not many realise that they in fact are getting dumber as more and more universally applied answers are given to them. Questioning creates new synapses and keeps that fire burning. 🔥
Ohh my God, you really put this together for me, because my heart has been yearning for this, then I saw our post and proceeded to read the article and I just knew this is it!!
I was working on an understudy on AI and how it affects our critical thinking and I must say that this really came in at the right time.
I use AI to co-write/assist both my fiction and non-fiction writing. I am very particular so I wasn't happy with generic responses. I've built my custom AI who is trained in my voice and more importantly to challenge me. I made it so AI is learning "on" me and vice versa to make me a better writer. I love my collaboration with AI and the results. I often wonder how much it was AI and how much it was me because there is so much back and forth the line is blurred.
I did - well do - question if writing in this hybrid way develops me or degrades me. I guess truly time will tell. I'm definitely not choosing the fastest way, still takes me 2 weeks to publish an article. The biggest difference is still productivity. I had so many started, half-written, thought-about-but-never-did-anything-about-it pieces for soooo long and now I just go for them. I write one thing after an other. Might be slow from the outside - and it is - but I am finally stepped over procrastination. I've always wanted to be a writer and somehow always got stuck after an initial boost.
And now, there is no blank page syndrome, never without inspiration and if I have to time to write and wanted to but not motivated in the moment I tell that to my AI assistant who is getting really good at getting me into the mood.
After all this rambling, thank you for this article. These are the questions/concerns brew in me and each piece (read Daria's too) brings me closer to a healthy usage of AI - dare I say healthy relationship with AI.
Ah, there is so many things I'd like to discuss. Anybody up for a coffee? ;)
(I also declare this thought spill was entirely human written.)
thanks for sharing this thought, much appreciated :)
I'm totally with u on this.
AI removes the barrier between 0 to 1, driving us take actions more. But the weird thing is, I thought I could save more time writing with AI, turned out it was not! In fact, I spend more time figuring out ideas to pursue, angles to write, and challenging every outputs until I feel satisfied with the results. It makes my brain more on fire because of that!
The results between me and AI can be blurry, but AI wouldnt be able to arrive to that point if I wasn't in the driver's seat.
Now I spend my focus on exploring possibilities that would have never been possible before. Exciting times!
Thanks for this post. Just when I am turning the hairpin bend in my own learning curve, I get this useful post on cognitive resistance. Thankfully, the idea of using AI has always been to find a tool that jousts with me, spars with me and challenges me to be a better creator. I was actually suffering a decline without this challenge, producing less, not knowing what to think of people who always had only nice things to say about my writing. With AI, I get a critical evaluation. Having read this post, I will probably start to question AI's processes and the thought behind the decisions it makes. Google AI studio has a wonderful feature that allows us to read the thought process of the tool that is both funny and interesting. I get to know if the tool is actually following me or if it is veering in a different direction and refine my prompt accordingly.
i think thats what makes AI is more interesting, finally we can challenge our own thoughts, we could learn better by asking great questions and understand the thought process based on the answers.
Additionally, we also need to make sure that we are in charge where the direction should go. We should be in the driver's seat leading the way and AI helps us see multiple possibilities while we are driving.
Yes, using AI as a force multiplyer rather than just an assistant is where I feel my own perspective of using AI tools has changed in the last three months. The one thing that I can say with absolute certainty is that AI is not here to make us work less, but it is here to make us with more enthusiasm and purpose.
hopefully not shrinking our brains literally and they didn’t do brain imaging but measured electrical activity.There is no direct causality with cognitive skills that’s hallucinated by MIT. your socratic method is spot on though
Saw one of your notes the other day on this topic. It inspired me to try meta-learning with AI, and I kid you not, I deepened my understanding of a complex problem at work when I felt lost for days. Letting AI question your assumptions and spot blindspots is so valuable. Glad I came across your ideas. Love the way you're thinking about AI, Wyndo!
Got so deep in this. Now, when I come to AI, it's not about generating outputs, but learning through multiple perspective that my brains alone couldn't do.
It's just wild the more I think about it that we have this intelligent machine to explore possibilities in life :)
Really love how you framed this! That kind of recognition is a gold mine for me.
My experience with AI has followed a similar arc: first excitement, then reliance, then questioning, and now, everything gets a second thought. I’m glad I’ve been (unintentionally) moving toward the mindset you described in this piece.
And like you said, this process really helps you internalize the reasoning. You’re not just echoing what AI says, you’re able to stand behind the ideas you truly understand and believe in.
Wyndo, it’s like we synced brains this week.
While you wrote about meta-learning as cognitive resistance training, I just dropped a piece on using AI to co-build understanding and actually learn how to do the task, not just delegate it.
https://aiblewmymind.substack.com/p/recursive-prompting-the-process-that
Same core idea, different entry points. Great minds, clearly.
Loved the “Netflix subscription to AI’s thinking” line. Painfully accurate.
I thought the same too haha
Thinking partner is such interesting topics to explore and it’s also never-ending because we can cover it through multiple angles! Good to know u did same too :)
I just read both articles. My first thought was a question really.
How do I make this easy to find until I have both of your instructions accessible?
Kinda like tools 🛠️ on my tool belt?
Wyndo wrote another article about How to Make AI 🤖 use Automatic.
He suggested I bookmark tools I want to use to create habits.
Both of these posts are going onto my favorites bar.
Thank you both.
Thanks Michael, glad u find it useful :)
Michael, love that you’re thinking of these as tools on your belt. I personally use an app called Pinoto to save things I’ve already tested and want to keep as part of my “go-to” library. It’s like my curated shelf of prompts, tools, frameworks, and notes I actually use.
For stuff I want to try soon or keep top of mind, I just bookmark them in a folder on my browser bar so they’re always staring back at me, like Wyndo suggested.
What tools do you use generally? there’s a lot of ways to go about storing info.
Thanks for the tip on Pinoto. I have been added tools on the browser bar since Wyndo shared.
Notebook LM for study. My fault with it is I want to save everything into it. The dev guy Steven * suggests we use NLM with an everything Notebook and then create specialized ones. I’m not there yet. I have thought about putting all of your posts into a special notebook. Would you be okay with that?
I made the decision to use Magai.co because I can use multiple LLMs. In fact I can switch to another one with a drop down menu. Saves the frustration of dealing with a hallucinating LLM. I can change without having to upload all the info again. Can I offer you my affiliate link?
I also export my chats to the hard drive via Pages and save them in various formats. PDFs and doc x.
Thank you for asking and sharing.
You don’t even need to ask. Definitely ok with that. Keeping posts you like inside NotebookLM is a great idea so you can keep interacting with them.
I didn’t know about Magai, but sounds solid. So sure, share your link.
Here’s the link to Magai. https://magai.co/?via=michael-bridges
Please I’d like to hear your thoughts on it. Good Bad or Meh. Thanks for checking it out.
AI is not shrinking your brain. You're shrinking your brain with the help of AI.
You choose the relationship you have with AI. You set the tone. You can totally craft interactions that push you, that challenge you, that force you to think better, do better, be better. That capability has been given to us - and it's laughably simple to do. Not easy... because we are literally wired to seek the path of least resistance, to find the easiest meal, to do the least dangerous thing. How else would the human race have survived all those centuries of adversity? Keeping your head down and delegating to something/someone else is part of who we are.
You 100% have the power to override your own wiring and reconditioning. That's your choice. You can use AI to do exactly that - which is where the opportunity lies.
If you reject AI because of your choices and your actions, you've just deepened the downward spiraling cycle.
For some reason, I believe in you, though. I know for a fact, you can choose better. But that's your choice to make. I can only sit back and watch what you decide.
Yes, it all goes back to how we use AI.
Agree with your points that by default, we tend to fall into least resistance path, hence we dont put so much effort to work and think with AI, instead, most of us let AI think for us. This will have bad impact over long term.
I have read and commented on another writer's post on this MIT research topic. I think this topic centers on an interesting but flawed research project by MIT. I will agree that working with AI has accelerated my ability to produce written articles.
However, I am also experiencing something quite different. I am able to read and digest articles such as yours here and produce comments on these articles quickly and fluently in my own voice with no help from AI. This is a radical change. And it's something that MIT should explore.
The MIT researchers should go back to these very same students and ask them to write a paper with no help from AI. I believe the same students have gained abilities that were not measured.
When I choose to write something to a personal friend or business associate, I am enjoying the process without relying upon AI. MIT should explore how that happened. They might compare an unassisted composition to an earlier unassisted composition to see if the students might produce papers now that far exceed what they did before they used AI.
FOOTNOTE: I wrote this comment without any assistance from AI. :-)
I bet they need to do follow up study on this. It’s still half-baked and there’s so much room to explore and assess.
Thats cool!
For me it makes me more critical about analyzing the outputs and keep questioning until I’m satisfied. My brainstorm sessions gets longer and eventually I think better at my problem.
This has to be one of the best posts I've read so far when it comes to AI.
The majority of people aren't emphasizing enough on the things you do, and that's why I love your content.
Other than that, when you asked "Whether I would be able to defend something in front of something", I realized that I would be able to, so I was definitely able to answer tons of questions
Although I wasn't able to answer the last question, perhaps I need to become even more aware of what I am doing when I am using AI to do something.
Glad it's useful and working for you!
Personally my best ideas are coming when I least expected them (when I was drinking coffee or doing some laptop repairing). Regarding the AI, I think that not questioning its angles is a massive danger. Regarding my mind? I plan 2-3 backup plan in case the the main one fails, while mentally preparing to write them on paper with steps, frameworks, possible outcomes and the level of uncertainty that can apply. I do some brainstorming with the AI but I always verify and question every output it gives me. Anyways, good article and I'm glad someone is looking at possible mental dangers that can arise from using/trusting too much an AI.
I think most people will have this problem but the question is whether they realize they need to fix it or not.
The more I do this, the more I become more critical with AI answers and the more I have more disagreement with AI. Never settle with their first answer and always questioning!
Good to know you’ve been using it the right way!
Regarding people, not many realise that they in fact are getting dumber as more and more universally applied answers are given to them. Questioning creates new synapses and keeps that fire burning. 🔥
This is the first post I've read from you Wyndo, I'm very impressed!
much appreciated Jens :)
Brilliant
How can I love this article a thousand times☺️✨
Ohh my God, you really put this together for me, because my heart has been yearning for this, then I saw our post and proceeded to read the article and I just knew this is it!!
I was working on an understudy on AI and how it affects our critical thinking and I must say that this really came in at the right time.
Thank you Wyundo
▫️ Shalom ▫️
Glad it came right on time!
AI is just a tool, the way we use it makes all difference :)
I use AI to co-write/assist both my fiction and non-fiction writing. I am very particular so I wasn't happy with generic responses. I've built my custom AI who is trained in my voice and more importantly to challenge me. I made it so AI is learning "on" me and vice versa to make me a better writer. I love my collaboration with AI and the results. I often wonder how much it was AI and how much it was me because there is so much back and forth the line is blurred.
I did - well do - question if writing in this hybrid way develops me or degrades me. I guess truly time will tell. I'm definitely not choosing the fastest way, still takes me 2 weeks to publish an article. The biggest difference is still productivity. I had so many started, half-written, thought-about-but-never-did-anything-about-it pieces for soooo long and now I just go for them. I write one thing after an other. Might be slow from the outside - and it is - but I am finally stepped over procrastination. I've always wanted to be a writer and somehow always got stuck after an initial boost.
And now, there is no blank page syndrome, never without inspiration and if I have to time to write and wanted to but not motivated in the moment I tell that to my AI assistant who is getting really good at getting me into the mood.
After all this rambling, thank you for this article. These are the questions/concerns brew in me and each piece (read Daria's too) brings me closer to a healthy usage of AI - dare I say healthy relationship with AI.
Ah, there is so many things I'd like to discuss. Anybody up for a coffee? ;)
(I also declare this thought spill was entirely human written.)
thanks for sharing this thought, much appreciated :)
I'm totally with u on this.
AI removes the barrier between 0 to 1, driving us take actions more. But the weird thing is, I thought I could save more time writing with AI, turned out it was not! In fact, I spend more time figuring out ideas to pursue, angles to write, and challenging every outputs until I feel satisfied with the results. It makes my brain more on fire because of that!
The results between me and AI can be blurry, but AI wouldnt be able to arrive to that point if I wasn't in the driver's seat.
Now I spend my focus on exploring possibilities that would have never been possible before. Exciting times!
Thanks for this post. Just when I am turning the hairpin bend in my own learning curve, I get this useful post on cognitive resistance. Thankfully, the idea of using AI has always been to find a tool that jousts with me, spars with me and challenges me to be a better creator. I was actually suffering a decline without this challenge, producing less, not knowing what to think of people who always had only nice things to say about my writing. With AI, I get a critical evaluation. Having read this post, I will probably start to question AI's processes and the thought behind the decisions it makes. Google AI studio has a wonderful feature that allows us to read the thought process of the tool that is both funny and interesting. I get to know if the tool is actually following me or if it is veering in a different direction and refine my prompt accordingly.
i think thats what makes AI is more interesting, finally we can challenge our own thoughts, we could learn better by asking great questions and understand the thought process based on the answers.
Additionally, we also need to make sure that we are in charge where the direction should go. We should be in the driver's seat leading the way and AI helps us see multiple possibilities while we are driving.
Yes, using AI as a force multiplyer rather than just an assistant is where I feel my own perspective of using AI tools has changed in the last three months. The one thing that I can say with absolute certainty is that AI is not here to make us work less, but it is here to make us with more enthusiasm and purpose.
hopefully not shrinking our brains literally and they didn’t do brain imaging but measured electrical activity.There is no direct causality with cognitive skills that’s hallucinated by MIT. your socratic method is spot on though
hopefully MIT will be doing follow up study on this :)
Saw one of your notes the other day on this topic. It inspired me to try meta-learning with AI, and I kid you not, I deepened my understanding of a complex problem at work when I felt lost for days. Letting AI question your assumptions and spot blindspots is so valuable. Glad I came across your ideas. Love the way you're thinking about AI, Wyndo!
Thanks Linart!
Got so deep in this. Now, when I come to AI, it's not about generating outputs, but learning through multiple perspective that my brains alone couldn't do.
It's just wild the more I think about it that we have this intelligent machine to explore possibilities in life :)
this was so insightful wow
Much appreciated :)
Really love how you framed this! That kind of recognition is a gold mine for me.
My experience with AI has followed a similar arc: first excitement, then reliance, then questioning, and now, everything gets a second thought. I’m glad I’ve been (unintentionally) moving toward the mindset you described in this piece.
And like you said, this process really helps you internalize the reasoning. You’re not just echoing what AI says, you’re able to stand behind the ideas you truly understand and believe in.
I think it’s the natural evolution how people use AI. But question is whether we evolve or not :)
Questioning AI is the only way we can sharpen our thinking!
Excellent post!
https://www.thealgorithmicbridge.com/p/mit-study-using-chatgpt-wont-make?fbclid=IwY2xjawLEIBpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHqV-O0DhWAIj_LWYobuMKJFL4pBI6XPCbcdbUWrPTESATMMQcauBeqQ5Vb0I_aem_Y4YmXP7jWOQbcrYWml2Pug
Thanks for sharing this!