LeadershipLean

Will We Remember How To Think?

Avatar photo By Ron Pereira Updated on August 5th, 2026

I’m nervous about the future of our human species. Now, I realize that’s not a normal opening for a Gemba Academy blog article, but please hear me out.

What concerns me most is how dependent many of us are becoming on AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude—and, to be clear, I include myself in that group.

Fun fact: The sentence you just read was rewritten by ChatGPT. Here was the original (in my words):  The thing I’m specifically worried about is how dependent many people are becoming on AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. And, to be clear, I’m not excluding myself from the situation.

And, yes, I know…the m-dash likely gave it away! But, seriously, it can take my rough drafts and make them sound so much better.

The thing I’m torn about is whether using AI to help you think, write better, cook better, parent better, or anything better is actually a good thing. Or are we going to slowly forget how to think and problem-solve?

I’m genuinely interested in your thoughts, which is why I want to keep this article short. So, please let me know what you think by leaving a comment below or over on your favorite social media platform.

p.s. Yes, the image at the top of the page was indeed created by ChatGPT. 🤷🏽‍♂️


  1. Andrew Wagner

    August 5, 2026 - 11:47 pm
    Reply

    Ai can be a great critical thinking partner. It’s actually quite good at Socratic dialogue, but you have to commit yourself to using it that way, and having the self control to do that is really pretty hard to maintain.

    • Avatar photo

      Ron Pereira

      August 7, 2026 - 8:22 am

      Great points, Andrew. What self control techniques have you seen success with?

  2. Nate D

    August 6, 2026 - 9:50 pm
    Reply

    AI is a tool that if used the right way can be a value add, “iron sharpens iron”. On the other hand, I think it is often used as a quick way to get an answer, a finished paper or speech, and a means for us to not have to think as you pointed out. I think of spark notes for book reports which essentially gave you all you needed to know without reading it. How much more meaningful is it to reach a mountain top if you climb it instead of taking a lift? The journey is where you learn everything, not at the destination.

    • Avatar photo

      Ron Pereira

      August 7, 2026 - 8:25 am

      Very well said. The iron sharpens iron is a perfect analogy of how AI can benefit us. The secret, I suppose, is to hold up our end of the deal by being iron ourselves. Have you had any success with this? I’m genuinely curious how people are approaching this situation.

    • Nate Dipierro

      August 8, 2026 - 10:07 am

      Hey Ron, I would say I have seen this work well but it really is a balance like you point out by holding up our end of the bargain. For example, I refuse to use it to communicate for me but it can help me with the formatting or frame working of a document if it’s something new to me. I won’t copy paste an email or school paper into AI, I want it to be me. I will use it to help me format a specific type of document that I haven’t written before or have no experience formatting. Another example, I am taking a class in excel and one of the problems for the chapter required using the large, index and match function at once. I was stuck but instead of popping it into copilot or looking up the answer, I walked away and came back and figured it out. I learned more from that experience, however small it is, than I would have from just getting the solution. That was more meaningful to me not only in the moment, but will be in the long run as well. It is a delicate balance of struggling enough to learn on our own, but also being able to see which struggles are not going to be that impactful for the future. I struggle with that balance sometimes, but I think we know in our gut if we are taking the easy way out instead of putting the work in.

    • Nate Dipierro

      August 8, 2026 - 10:23 am

      Long story short, use it for information to sharpen your mind instead of answers to avoid struggle.

  3. Leandro

    August 16, 2026 - 7:49 am
    Reply

    Yes, Ron, you are right about your concerns, and I share with it.
    While I write these words, some AI tool is correcting or suggesting other words, and this is very sad.
    This situation is like when calculate machine appeared, and from it people began to lose the capacity to calculate themselves.

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