Futurist and technology strategist Sinéad Bovell is warning that the growing dependence on artificial intelligence may be reshaping human thinking in ways many people have not fully considered.
Speaking in a video shared on the Instagram account Mighty Pursuit, Bovell argued that while fears of immediate mass unemployment from artificial intelligence have not yet materialised, the deeper long-term concern may be the gradual erosion of critical thinking and independent decision-making.
“You don’t feel confident making a decision without AI and that’s a scary place to be,” Bovell said. “There’s going to be moments where we have to deviate from the system.”
Her comments come amid continuing global debate over the societal impact of AI tools as companies rapidly integrate generative artificial intelligence into workplaces, schools, search engines, and daily life. Despite predictions that AI would quickly eliminate large numbers of jobs, unemployment spikes tied directly to the technology have not yet broadly emerged.
Instead, Bovell suggested the more subtle risk may involve what researchers and commentators increasingly describe as “cognitive offloading” — the tendency for people to outsource memory, analysis, and reasoning tasks to digital systems.
“Some of the studies that have alluded to cognitive atrophy or this cognitive offloading show that when students use AI to write an essay, five days later they didn’t even know what was in the essay,” she said.
Bovell stressed that users should remember that AI systems are not inherently factual reasoning engines, but predictive language systems capable of generating incorrect or misleading information with confidence.
“It isn’t a fact system,” she said. “It’s a language system.”
The futurist also warned that overreliance on AI-generated communication could eventually affect personal relationships and accountability, particularly if users become detached from the ideas or words produced by the technology.
“The thinking that happens before you engage with AI and after you engage with AI is really important,” Bovell said. “Don’t just blindly accept its answer.”
The conversation reflects growing concern among educators, ethicists, and technology experts about how generative AI could alter learning patterns, workplace skills, and human cognition over time, even in the absence of immediate economic disruption.
Mighty Pursuit described Bovell as a leading voice at the intersection of technology and society, noting her work with global organizations and discussions involving the social and economic implications of artificial intelligence systems.
