Why AI Makes You Feel Smarter While Making You Dumber | Michael Gerlich
🔍 Key insights
The Convenient Way Is the Wrong Way — Michael Gerlich’s core argument is deceptively simple: the most natural way to use AI — ask first, think later — is the most damaging one. Convenience is the trap, not the tool.
Cognitive Offloading vs. Cognitive Outsourcing — Storing phone numbers in your phone is fine. Letting AI structure your thinking before you have formed a thought is something else entirely. The distinction matters more than most people realise.
Think First, Prompt Later — Gerlich’s research suggests that the order matters: forming your own view before consulting AI leads to meaningfully better reasoning than offloading from the start. The inconvenient way is the right way.
📚 Go deeper
🎥 Related videos:
Yuval Noah Harari – “Will the Future Be Human?” (WEF Davos) – Harari on AI, free will, and what happens when algorithms know us better than we know ourselves.
Advait Sarkar – “How to Stop AI from Killing Your Critical Thinking” (TED, 2025) — A Microsoft researcher makes the case that AI doesn’t just answer our questions — it quietly replaces the thinking that answering them was supposed to build.
📖 Further reading:
The Convenience Trap by Michael Gerlich – The book behind the episode. Argues that AI’s greatest risk is not its power but its frictionlessness.
Co-Intelligence – Ethan Mollick – A practical and honest guide to working alongside AI without surrendering your thinking to it.
🎧 Podcast to listen to:
If Anybody Builds It, EVERYONE Dies — Within Reason — Alex O’Connor discusses the risk of developing AGI with AI expert Nate Soares.
💡 Think for Yourself
When was the last time you sat with a difficult question long enough to feel genuinely stuck? Or did AI smooth that over before you got there?
If AI always tells you what you want to hear, how would you ever find out you were wrong?
☁️ Thought Experiment
AI asked to improve a candle will make a brighter, cheaper, longer-lasting candle. It will never invent the lightbulb. Think about your last important project. Were you improving a candle?
Cheers,
Kevin