AI and critical thinking are increasingly discussed together as generative tools draft text, summarise documents and suggest solutions. The question is how people use their own judgement while doing so. In a UN News interview published on 29 October 2026, David Rock, co-founder and chief executive of the NeuroLeadership Institute, distinguishes delegating routine work from delegating decisions themselves.
Expert advice is not a population-wide measurement
Rock argues that people should continue setting goals, questioning assumptions and assessing responses. In his view, AI can widen the way someone considers a problem, provided it does not replace the process of thinking it through. He summarised the approach as: “Keep your brain in the game.”
The interview also connects these concerns with information overload and the use of chatbots as companions. These are Rock’s interpretations of potential risks. The interview does not present a new experiment demonstrating that AI use, by itself, reduces every user’s cognitive abilities.
Research on AI and critical thinking at work
A more specific empirical source is a study published at CHI 2025. Researchers surveyed 319 knowledge workers who used generative AI and collected 936 examples of work tasks. They examined when participants said they engaged in critical thinking and how much cognitive effort those activities required.
Greater confidence in AI was associated with less self-reported critical thinking. By contrast, greater confidence in one’s own ability to complete a task was associated with more. The researchers also described a shift in activities: from producing a solution towards checking information, integrating outputs and overseeing the task.
These findings rely on participants’ accounts of their experiences. The survey did not directly measure long-term changes in their abilities, and it does not establish that AI use causes those abilities to decline. Its results therefore do not support a blanket claim that chatbots reduce intelligence.
Responsibility for the result
Rock emphasises metacognition: paying attention to one’s own thinking. He recommends using AI to explore alternative explanations and challenge assumptions, while keeping responsibility for decisions with the person using it. The interview and the survey address different parts of that question. Neither provides a simple verdict that every use of AI improves or worsens thinking.
Sources: UN News — interview with David Rock, Microsoft Research — CHI 2025 study.
