Cognitive offloading: is AI doing too much of your thinking ? 🤖🧠

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These days, artificial intelligence takes just seconds to write a message, summarize a document, come up with an idea, or reword a piece of text. Across Cameroon, students, professionals, entrepreneurs and content creators are using it to move faster. But behind that time saved lies a real question: as more tasks get handed to the machine, are users still putting their brains to work the same way?

« I ask AI first » 📱

On the bus, at university, at the office, at home — the habit keeps spreading. A hard question no longer automatically triggers personal research. For a growing number of people, the first move is simply to ask AI directly.

« Before, I’d look up several sources before writing anything. Now I hand the topic to AI and it already gives me a foundation to work from, » says Laurent Etoundi, a student.

The time saved is real. For an assignment, a professional email or a presentation, a structure that once took minutes — sometimes hours — to build can now appear in seconds. But some admit the habit runs deeper than convenience.

« The problem is, once I know AI can answer, I stop searching for long. I just ask it directly and see how to adapt the answer to what I need, » admits Aline Fokou, a working professional.

Your brain can outsource too 🧠

In cognitive psychology, this is called cognitive offloading — using an external tool to take on part of the mental work. A calculator does the math, a planner holds the appointments, a search engine retrieves the fact.

« The more you use AI, the more dependent you become. In this case, your brain starts asking you, every time, not to make the effort. It sends you straight to a device that can do everything for you, with almost no effort on your part, » explains Arnold Namasso, a psychologist.

AI pushes that same logic much further. It can search, summarize, rephrase, compare, organize, or produce a finished answer outright. The issue isn’t really using the tool — it’s when a person gradually stops performing certain mental operations themselves.

A Cameroonian study sounds the alarm 🚨

This isn’t just a feeling anymore. A study published in 2025 examined the relationship between AI use, cognitive offloading and critical thinking among Cameroonian students. Conducted among 380 students at the Higher Technical Teacher’s Training College in Kumba, affiliated with the University of Buea, the study found a statistical association between heavier AI use, more cognitive offloading, and lower levels of critical thinking within its sample.

Cognitive offloading also plays an intermediary role in that relationship. That doesn’t mean AI is « destroying » anyone’s brain, or that every user is becoming less intelligent — the study covers one specific group and mainly points to a link between the variables observed. For the researchers, the real question is finding a balance between the help technology provides and the intellectual effort a person still puts in.

On the ground, opinions are split 🗣️

Among students, the picture is anything but uniform.

« AI mostly helps me when I’m stuck. I ask it for explanations, then I do the work myself based on what comes up, » says Doline Fonka, a student.

For her, the tool doesn’t replace thinking — it helps her get past a specific hurdle. Another student admits to using it quite differently.

« When I’m given an assignment, I can just ask for the answer directly. If the result looks good, I don’t necessarily try to understand how it got there, » says Lionnel Mvaa.

In workplaces too, the time savings are winning people over.

« For emails and certain documents, AI saves me a lot of time on wording, » says Aline T., a young executive.

Not smarter than a human 🧠

AI genuinely reduces the effort certain tasks require — that’s exactly its appeal. But less effort doesn’t always mean cognitive progress. When AI takes over a repetitive task, a person can redirect their energy toward something more complex. Used that way, the technology becomes a real assistant.

The opposite happens when it systematically takes over research, memorization, analysis and writing — the underlying skills simply get exercised less. Recent research points to this same tension between cognitive relief and cognitive offloading: AI can lighten the mental load, but it becomes a problem once a person hands over an excessive share of their own reasoning.

« When the AI goes quiet, some don’t know what to do » ⚠️

In schools and universities, this shift is a particular concern for teachers.

« The problem isn’t that a student uses AI. The problem is when they hand in work they’re unable to explain. They submit something they have no real understanding of — sometimes they don’t even think to remove the mentions the AI tool left behind, » observes Laure Nikwel, a teacher.

The same concern keeps resurfacing in different forms. Some learners use the tool to understand a concept. Others to polish their writing. But some ask for a finished piece of work outright — in which case the assignment gets done, but the learning doesn’t necessarily happen. That’s also what worries some parents.

« My child can come home with a good answer to a homework question without ever really understanding the lesson. That’s what bothers me — in the end, a tool is automating everything for them, » says Agnès Dikoumè, a parent.

Should we ban AI ?🚫🤖

Banning AI outright wouldn’t solve the problem. It’s now part of the everyday digital toolkit for work, learning and communication. The real question is what we ask the machine to do, and what we keep doing ourselves.

« Personally, I think AI lets us develop our intellectual abilities further. You just need to combine ease of use with a bit of reflection, and we’ll all become geniuses. Let’s adopt it strategically — otherwise we risk losing our identity altogether, » says Leon Agbor, a young employee.

Looking for ideas, asking for an explanation, or checking a fact can reinforce learning. Asking for a finished answer and copying it without understanding produces a very different outcome. The real dividing line isn’t between « using » AI and « not using » it — it’s between using it as an assistant and handing it your reasoning altogether.

Maybe the new reflex should be different 🇨🇲🧠

Before asking AI to solve a problem, why not try it yourself first? Before copying an answer, why not check it? Before requesting a full write-up, why not sketch your own outline first?

These simple habits let people enjoy AI’s speed without giving up intellectual effort. The goal was never to go back to a world without technology — it’s to stop technology from routinely doing, in our place, what we’re still capable of doing ourselves. The « gray matter » in this story’s title is a figure of speech: AI isn’t erasing our brains, but it is changing how we use them.

The most concerning part may not be that AI can answer our questions. It’s that we might end up unable to think without it. By saving a few minutes here, outsourcing research there, and settling for ready-made answers, we could end up saving time while spending something far more valuable: our capacity to search, question, remember and reason. Tomorrow’s real luxury may no longer be access to AI — it may be still knowing how to think once the AI goes quiet.

Over to you ! 🗣️👇🏾
Does AI help you think more clearly, or do you feel it’s gradually nudging you to think less for yourself?