A University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) economist warns of a looming threat from the massive overuse of AI.
Zhigang Feng, associate professor of economics at UNO, says the real threat from AI isn’t rebellion or domination but erosion: a gradual decay of human creativity and critical thought as people increasingly outsource thinking to algorithms.
Feng, who specializes in macroeconomics and computational modeling, says he coined the term “Middle-Intelligence Trap” to describe how humanity risks getting stuck in an intellectual limbo.
“We’re eagerly handing over basic cognitive tasks to machines, mistaking their efficiency for our own evolution. But instead of using that freed-up mental energy to reach new heights of reasoning and creativity, we risk getting stuck in limbo: too reliant on AI to think for ourselves, yet not capable of the transcendent thinking that genuine augmentation promises.”
He likens the pattern to developing economies that hit a plateau after rapid growth.
“I’ve coined the term ‘Middle-Intelligence Trap’ in an upcoming paper to echo the economic concept of the middle-income trap, where developing countries get stuck after reaching a certain level of growth.”
The professor warns that modern convenience tools, from calculators to generative AI, follow a predictable cycle.
“This follows an iron law: every tool that liberates us from cognitive labor simultaneously reduces our opportunities for cognitive training.”
He adds that the feedback loop between humans and AI may amplify bias while masking it as objectivity.
“Without rigorous checks, this creates self-reinforcing bubbles where our biases are reflected with the sheen of machine authority. The result isn’t enlightenment—it’s stagnation, a world where generating narratives costs nothing and shared, verifiable truth becomes worthless.”
Still, he rejects technophobia. Feng says the goal should be balance, building what he calls “cognitive reserves” through deliberate struggle and friction in thought.
“The danger isn’t dramatic collapse but comfortable, almost imperceptible decline. We risk becoming cognitive rentiers, living off our machines’ intellectual capital while our own powers wither. The tools built to augment our intelligence could easily become its substitute.”
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