In 2022, artificial intelligence reached a milestone that had eluded it for decades – it defeated eight world champions at a key aspect of the card game bridge. Whilst a significant leap for AI, it passed almost unnoticed by many, after all, computers beating humans at games is hardly new. Chess fell in 1997. Bridge, however, was different. One of the last holdouts, not for lack of computing power, but because it demands reasoning under uncertainty, partnership and human judgement. While AI can now excel in playing the hand, it still falls short in bidding and defence. It calculates and approximates, but it does not truly think as we do. That distinction matters, because at the very moment AI is becoming more capable of thinking for us, we are at risk of doing less thinking ourselves.

In my work with young people and students, I am struck by a shift towards use of AI as a substitute for thinking, rather than in support of it. Students are no longer grappling with problems in the same way, they are not doing the intellectual ‘graft’ that builds understanding.

A 2025 study found that higher use of AI tools is associated with lower critical thinking ability, with researchers pointing to “cognitive offloading” – the outsourcing of mental effort – as the underlying cause. When answers are readily available, the incentive to wrestle with a problem disappears.

Studies in education warn that heavy reliance on AI can reduce independent reasoning and critical evaluation, while neuroscientific work from MIT’s Media Lab found that people using AI tools show lower levels of brain activity associated with memory, creativity and decision-making. Their outputs may be faster, but they........

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