A newly published study in the American Psychological Association (APA) journal is raising fresh concerns about what heavy reliance on generative AI tools is doing to people’s confidence in their own thinking.
A study by researcher Sarah Baldeo, based on 1,923 adults in the US and Canada, finds that heavy AI users often rely on the technology to handle core mental tasks, raising questions about confidence and independence in decision-making.
Participants completed 10 tasks designed to simulate real-world thinking challenges, while being allowed to use AI tools as they normally would. The study shows that most participants outsourced the thinking to AI.
“Across tasks, 58% ± 7% of participants agreed that ‘AI did most of the thinking, with higher reported offloading during planning and sequencing tasks.”
The study also found a strong link between reliance on AI and lower confidence in independent reasoning.
“Greater prompt dependence and lower override frequency were associated with reduced self-reported confidence in independent reasoning (r = −.61, p < .01).”
The data suggests that the more people relied on AI without questioning it, the less confident they felt in their own ability to think through problems. Participants also reported feeling like they were outsourcing thinking, losing a sense of ownership over decisions and trading depth of thought for speed.
But Baldeo notes that the loss of confidence is a function of how participants engaged with AI-generated output rather than with AI use. According to the researcher, participants who actively revised or rejected AI responses reported greater confidence than those who accepted outputs with little modification.
“These findings suggest that perceived autonomy and authorship may be shaped more by patterns of oversight and engagement than by the presence of AI assistance per se.”
Baldeo concludes that a user’s interactive style with AI plays a significant role in shaping perceived autonomy and confidence.
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