It’s been clear to me from the outset of my experience with AI that it creates an inherent danger of lazy brains. By this, I mean that we are already becoming tempted to chuck all challenging intellectual work over the fence to be caught by AI systems. We then wait for it to be thrown back over, assuming that the output is reliable. In particular, we are seduced by the fact that it often looks so good.

Whilst I can give you a compelling argument to explain the ‘lazy brains’ danger, I am also getting regular evidence of this direction in my everyday experiences.

Please save me from AI narratives that appear like a cake with impressive icing yet disappoint so much when we bite into the substance. As part of my role, I am often sent information on various topics across the science and business spectrum, and I have found that my sense of AI contribution has been increasingly frustrated in recent times. Now it doesn’t take me long to smell AI influence, and my immediate response is usually to stop reading any further.

My own experience is that deeper investigation of the substance contained in these narratives is uninspiring. The level of unsubstantiated logic, repetition, and standardised language is unimpressive. In particular, I am sent material that is supposed to look and feel like neuroscience (being one of my specialist areas), but the ‘disappointing cake’ experience kicks in as soon as I cut through the icing.

In the interests of balance, I am fully aware that AI can offer some amazing rational processing capacity in many important areas. However, my concern here is that there is a trend to use AI without any genuine depth of understanding or conviction in the argument. To be honest, we cannot blame technology for this. It is our choice if we ask the technology to do the work and then use it as an excuse to abdicate or ignore our responsibility for the outputs.

This is not just a moan: there is a significant point to be made about its use. It makes absolute sense to ask AI to help us with the processing of heavy data and reasoning, but it is critical to examine the output and really test whether it aligns with our own convictions.

Professionals take note — and it’s a very positive note. Don’t sell short your expertise and knowledge. Your professional experience has a value well beyond the capabilities of AI. Use it to support you, but don’t let it make decisions and judgements for you. Icing can often make the cake look tempting, but it’s the experience of eating that really counts.