I had a moment recently that made me stop and think. I was driving a hire car, something I do often while travelling for work. But this one didn’t have the bells and whistles I’m used to. No reverse camera, no 360-degree sensors, no helpful beeping when I got too close to the curb. I found myself hesitating, second-guessing my angles and approach. And that’s when it hit me. Something I used to be really good at (parking) had started to slip away from me. I hadn’t needed to use that skill in quite a while, because the car did most of the thinking for me.
The experience stuck with me, especially because of a conversation I’d had just a few days earlier with a client. She was talking about two members of her team who’d been using AI tools to help write emails, reports and internal documents for over a year. What started out as a smart way to save time had quietly turned into a dependency. When she asked them to start crafting a few key documents without AI support, both admitted they weren’t confident they could do it. These weren’t junior team members. These were capable, articulate professionals who had simply outsourced a little too much of their own thinking, for a little too long.
And I get it. I’ve written ten books. I’ve been writing professionally for years. And yet, I’ve noticed that I now put off writing posts or articles on flights if I don’t have Wi-Fi, because it means I won’t have access to ChatGPT. Even with years of experience behind me, I feel that same hesitation creeping in. What if I can’t get the words right? What if I get stuck? What if the spark just doesn’t come?
This isn’t about whether AI is good or bad. It’s about how easily we can start deferring to technology, and what that deferral might be doing to us beneath the surface. The phrase that came to mind as I reflected on this is “convenience at the cost of confidence.” That’s what’s happening here. These tools are designed to make life easier, and they do. But in doing so, they can quietly erode the very capabilities we once relied on, and the self-belief that went with them.
There’s growing research to back this up. A Microsoft-backed study with Carnegie Mellon found that people who relied on AI for decision-making were more likely to accept incorrect answers, and less likely to challenge what they were given. The researchers noted a measurable dip in critical thinking performance when AI assistance was involved. It wasn’t that people became less intelligent, it was that they became less engaged. They were handing over not just tasks, but also the mental effort required to think them through.
A recent The Wall Street Journal article titled “How I Realized AI Was Making Me Stupid” told a similar story. The author described how he had been using AI tools for translation, summarisation, and writing, and only realised over time how much his own linguistic and reasoning skills had started to atrophy. He’d begun relying on the machine to do the heavy lifting, and with that came a drop in mental sharpness and creativity. In his words, “It wasn’t just that I didn’t know the answers. It was that I had stopped thinking like someone who could figure them out.”
This isn’t a fringe concern. It’s a human one. And it’s not new. We’ve seen versions of this before—think of how GPS made us forget how to navigate, or how autocorrect has made it easier to type quickly but harder to spell confidently. Every convenience tool changes the way we interact with the task it helps us with. The difference now is the scale and speed. AI is not just assisting us. In many cases, it’s replacing the effort altogether.
What does this mean for us as professionals, leaders, and learners? It means we have to be more intentional than ever. Using AI isn’t the problem. Mindless dependence is. When we let tools think for us, we start losing our own muscle memory, whether that’s for writing, decision-making, problem-solving or creative thinking. And with that loss comes a quieter, more dangerous one: the loss of confidence. If we don’t practice our own abilities, we start believing we don’t have them anymore.
That’s what struck me most in the conversation with my client. It wasn’t that her team lacked ability, it was that they’d stopped trusting it. And that’s something worth paying attention to. Because once confidence erodes, performance follows. People hesitate. They procrastinate. They question their judgment. And that kind of self-doubt is hard to unpick once it sets in.
So what can we do? We can start by being honest. Honest about the ways we use AI. Honest about when it helps, and when it hinders. Honest about when we’re choosing convenience over growth. And then we can build habits that keep our thinking sharp. Write the first draft yourself. Make the decision before you check what the tool recommends. Try solving the problem before you search for the shortcut.
And as leaders, we need to create cultures that value not just output, but capability. That means giving people the chance to stretch, to struggle, and to succeed on their own terms. It means encouraging them to stay mentally present, even when tech can do the task faster. And it means helping them see AI not as a crutch, but as a collaborator.
The cars I drive now are smarter than I ever imagined possible. And yes, they park beautifully. But every now and then, it’s worth choosing the base model. Just to remind myself that I can still do it. That I haven’t lost the touch. That the skill is still there, even if I don’t use it every day.
The same goes for thinking. Don’t let your confidence become a casualty of convenience. You’ve still got it. Just don’t forget to prove it to yourself every once in a while.
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Michael McQueen is a trends forecaster, change strategist and award-winning conference speaker.
He features regularly as a commentator on TV and radio and is a bestselling author of 10 books. His most recent book Mindstuck explores the psychology of stubbornness and how to change minds – including your own. Find out more here.
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