In a recent New York Times expert survey, historian Yuval Noah Harari pointed to the mental health implications of recent developments in AI, saying, “[t]he rapid changes of the A.I. revolution are likely to cause a mental health crisis as humans struggle to adapt. We are about to conduct the biggest psychological experiment in human history, on billions of human guinea pigs, and nobody can predict what the results will be.”
As Pitt adopts Anthropic’s Claude, many undergraduates settle into their guinea pig roles, and although I never envisioned myself using AI to study, I’m beginning to realize that the efficiency offered by Claude is very difficult to turn down.
In truth, my learning style began to be modified even before Claude’s arrival. ALEKS — an AI-assisted learning program used by Pitt’s STEM departments — has drastically changed my approach to learning. While I was initially hesitant to rely on ALEKS for my routine studying tasks, I’ve come to see the program as a necessary evil. Right now, I use ALEKS to complete weekly chemistry modules and Claude to refresh individual concepts.
Despite the efficiency they offer, AI tools like Claude, have also proven to be anything but useful in my humanities classes. In my introductory psychology course, I’ve found that using Claude to study is actually more difficult than reading the textbook or taking pen-and-paper notes. Even when it comes to my STEM classes, I’ve found that simply reading popular science books like Sam Kean’s “The Disappearing Spoon” has been incredibly helpful in getting myself to inhabit a scientist’s mindset.
In line with Harari, most survey participants did not see AI as having a necessarily negative impact on unemployment rates. Economist Carl Frey’s “biggest bet” was that “AI won’t deliver lasting prosperity if it’s used mainly to automate what we already do … The great leaps come from new industries, not faster repetition.”
While Harari’s warning about the mental health dangers of AI may bring about visions of AI-associated psychosis and Spike Jonze’s “Her,” Harari’s exact statement — that a struggle to adapt will be the most destabilizing factor — points specifically to cognitive dangers.
The fast-paced workplace environments fostered by AI adoption are necessarily reliant on what economist Daniel Kahneman called “fast thinking.” Kahneman spent much of his career identifying the differences between fast and slow thought processes, concluding that fast thinking is unreliable and prone to biases and irrationality. While most established professionals may easily adapt to the cognitive landscape of artificial intelligence, the same cannot be said for those of us just entering the workforce.
Gen Z’s struggle to adapt to the technology-centric landscape of modern life — exemplified by poor literacy rates found among boys of all ages — has already shown that efficiency does not necessarily lead to better outcomes. While AI is an easy target of blame, I believe that much of our hyper-efficient, lonely world was constructed by the likes of Apple and Meta. In this vein, our focus should not be on shunning AI use, but on undoing the damage created by the digital age — a development which has left expectations of constant availability, techno-feudalism and mass surveillance in its wake.
My biggest concern with the current implementation of AI is that it is being used to suppress the average person’s critical thinking skills while at the same time increasing their workload. A 2024 study found that 77% of employees saw “increases in workload and decreases in productivity” thanks to AI. My personal experience with the technology is similar — relying on Claude for simple tasks often feels like using a calculator to add one-digit numbers.
The digital age has the power to restructure the very way that our social contracts function. The mechanical engineers of the 20th century may be the medical professionals of the 21st, and the programmers may be the artists. Only time can tell how well the masses will adapt to the age of fast cognition.
Stepan Kopeykin is a transfer student from the Borough of Manhattan Community College. His favorite movies and books include Interstellar, The Big Lebowski, Choke and The Secret History. You can find him drinking three to four cups of tea a day and playing catch with the wall outside of Hillman. He runs a personal Substack page and can be reached at [email protected].