by Thaddeus G. McCotter
AI may promise efficiency, but as studies show, it’s quietly eroding our critical thinking—turning users into passive observers in their own cognitive decline.
In the 1975 cinematic classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Randle P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) is a rebellious thorn in the side of the institution’s administration, particularly the tyrannical Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). After the suicide of a fellow patient, McMurphy finally had enough and attempted to strangle Nurse Ratched; however, the orderlies detained and removed him.
Later, Chief (Will Samson) sees the orderlies returning McMurphy to his room. Hoping to escape with McMurphy, Chief enters, expecting his friend had endured yet another round of painful “electroconvulsive” therapy as punishment. But Nurse Ratched had had enough, too.
Chief discovers that McMurphy had been lobotomized. Knowing his friend would not want to live this way, Chief suffocates McMurphy. Then, Chief rips a fountain off a wall, throws it through a window, and escapes the institution to the cheers of his fellow inmates.
Based upon Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a tale of oppression, rebellion, repression, and—finally—liberation.
No, this is not an attempt to draw an analogy between the film’s climatic emancipation and the end of the execrable Biden administration and the triumphant return of the Trump administration (though it would be quite apt). I recalled the Oscar-showered flick due to a Breitbart article by Paul Bois regarding artificial intelligence (AI). The reason was simple, if venal: unfortunately, my American Greatness “Trilogy of Meditations on AI and Art” (imagination, works, audience) is being proven anything but alarmist.
The title of Mr. Bois’s article sums it all up: “Study: Relying on Artificial Intelligence Reduces Critical Thinking Skills.”
Conducted by Carnegie Mellon and Microsoft, the study examined “319 ‘knowledge workers’…who deal in problem-solving of some kind.” Mr. Bois cites the findings found in Futurism: “…overall, those who trusted the accuracy of the AI tools found themselves thinking less critically, while those who trusted the tech less used more critical thought when going back over AI outputs.”
So, how did this happen? Ponder how your handwriting has devolved since the advent of the laptop keyboard and smartphones or your math skills since the ubiquitous use of calculators.
“A key irony of automation is that by mechanising routine tasks and leaving exception-handling to the human user, you deprive the user of the routine opportunities to practice their judgement and strengthen their cognitive musculature, leaving them atrophied and unprepared when the exceptions do arise,” the researchers said.
In other words, when it comes to your brain, “Use it or lose it.”
“The data shows a shift in cognitive effort as knowledge workers increasingly move from task execution to oversight when using GenAI,” the researchers continued. “Surprisingly, while AI can improve efficiency, it may also reduce critical engagement, particularly in routine or lower-stakes tasks in which users simply rely on AI, raising concerns about long-term reliance and diminished independent problem-solving.”
The researchers found the results of the study both surprising and disturbing. First, they admitted how AI can lead to “the deterioration of cognitive faculties that ought to be preserved.” Then—uh, oh—realized all the areas that will be impacted by a loss of critical thinking skills: “Futurism noted that the decline in critical thinking skills has been observed in ‘many domains, from self-driving vehicles to scrutinizing news articles produced by AI.’”
As noted by my aforementioned “Trilogy of Meditations on AI and Art,” one finding particularly resonated with me: Futurism noted how “The use of AI also appeared to hinder creativity, the researchers found, with workers using AI tools producing a ‘less diverse set of outcomes for the same task’ compared to people relying on their own cognitive abilities.”
Yet, while AI will cause human creativity to diminish, ironically, some artists are embracing the advent of AI “art.” Award-winning screenwriter Paul Schrader is one who not only welcomes the rise of AI, he has prostrated himself before it—on Facebook, no less. Per Variety:
“I’M STUNNED,” Schrader wrote. “I just asked ChatGPT for ‘an idea for Paul Schrader film…’ Every idea ChatGPT came up with (in a few seconds) was good. And original. And fleshed out. Why should writers sit around for months searching for a good idea when AI can provide one in seconds?”
In a previous post, he also remarked that he’s “come to realize that AI is smarter than I am.”
While I cannot argue that point, I can follow the science to contest his assumption that AI will provide people with more leisure time and less stress.
Mr. Bois harkened back to a recent study from Uplevel that revealed “AI coding assistants like GitHub Copilot are not significantly improving developer productivity or preventing burnout, despite the hype surrounding these tools.” And, in what is becoming a pattern, the researchers were “surprised”:
“Surprisingly, the results showed no meaningful improvements in key metrics such as pull request cycle time and throughput for those using the AI coding assistants. This finding contradicts the claims made by GitHub and other proponents of AI coding tools, who have touted massive productivity gains.”
One can only imagine such researchers’ Casablanca-like “shock” when they are informed the left has been actively aiming to weaponize AI to suit their ideological and political agenda.
But let us not digress into AI alarmism à la Vlad “The Bad” Putin. We won’t be eaten by AI. But we very well may be lured into its enervating clutches. Promises of easier living have ever tempted folks into ignoring their better judgment. AI constitutes a peculiar new ruse, for as the science increasingly shows, it will destroy your ability to have better judgment. The result will be the inability to think critically and properly weigh the fact that AI has so far proven not to be a life-improving boon with nothing but upsides.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, McMurphy struggles to assert his humanity in the face of institutional oppression; and, while through his rebellious example and sacrifice, he is destroyed, Chief is freed.
With AI, we are facing the very real prospect of our humanity being diminished by machines. And so many of our fellow human beings are heedlessly running headlong into its bloodless, calculating cuckoo’s nest. And, unlike “reel life,” should humanity be cast as the lead in One Flew Into the Cuckoo’s Nest, no Chief will escape.
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An American Greatness contributor, the Hon. Thaddeus G. McCotter (M.C., Ret.) served Michigan’s 11th Congressional district from 2003-2012, He served as chair of the Republican House Policy Committee and as a member of the Financial Services, Joint Economic, Budget, Small Business, and International Relations Committees. Not a lobbyist, he is also a contributor to Chronicles; a frequent public speaker and moderator for public policy seminars; and a co-host of “John Batchelor: Eye on the World” on CBS radio, among sundry media appearances.
Thaddeus G. McCotter
Source: https://amgreatness.com/2025/04/05/ai-one-flew-into-the-cuckoos-nest/
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