In our last blog, we discussed an MIT study that demonstrated how people in one test group, who relied on AI to perform work tasks, showed decreased neural connections over time. In addition, critical thinking skills and memory became worse. In other words, the more you use AI to complete tasks for you, the less engaged your brain becomes. This decline in thinking skills is known as cognitive debt.
Alas, AI is here to stay, and the last thing AI adoption needed was a new hidden cost for using the technology. A major hurdle faces organizations that strive to take advantage of the “better, faster, cheaper” paradigm promised by AI. Namely, the challenge of creating an AI-First workforce in a way that allows humans to work with AI and not relinquish control of work and thinking to AI agents.
With those goals in mind, here are some best practices you can employ when rethinking automation roadmaps and evolving your workforce to work and team with AI:
Promote “human-in-the-loop” systems: Engineer automations where AI-generated decisions or content are always subject to human review before they are finalized. This is especially important for financial analysis, marketing copy, and legal summaries.
Focus on the process over product: For employee training on AI, create tasks and projects that reward the process of reasoning, drafting, and reflection, instead of just a final output. An example of this could be having employees share a process journal with details on how and when they used AI during a project.
Mandate AI literacy training: Hold ongoing training to educate employees on AI’s capabilities and limitations. This includes its potential for bias, errors, and hallucinations. The goal of such training is to build your employees’ ability to question the outputs of AI.
Reward distinctively human skills: In employee reviews and promotions, place greater value on uniquely human skills such as interpersonal communication, emotional intelligence, and ethical judgement.
Conduct regular AI usage audits: Measure where and how AI tools are being used across your organization. Assess whether the tools are actually enhancing human worker capabilities or just automating low-value work at the expense of developing strategic applications.
Foster a psychologically safe space: Encourage employees to challenge and question AI output, based on their own expertise and experience, without fear of discipline.
By embracing these strategies, organizations can maintain a cognitively healthy and adaptable workforce while still reaping the benefits of AI efficiency.
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