AI brain rot is underappreciated

I think AI brain rot is a danger that is currently underappreciated.

Last week, I found myself trying to write code manually, which is a weird thing to say. The idea that there would be a distinction between writing code manually and writing code in any other way would have sounded crazy not even two years ago.

Honestly, not even one year ago.

But then I realized it had been about six months since I had actually needed to write code manually, and probably two years since I had done it without some form of AI-assisted autocomplete.

And suddenly, I realized how easy it is for us to forget skills.

Is coding like handwriting or like speaking a language?

I do not know about other people, since I have not conducted a proper survey, but I effectively do not use handwriting for anything anymore. I did not consciously decide to stop, it just slowly became less and less necessary.

Now it seems like we are moving toward a world where even typing is becoming unnecessary.

Full disclosure: I am not even typing this. I am dictating it and then editing the result. But I still can write easily and effortlessly; I just don't do it very often.

Now it is probably true that writing code, especially when you are experienced, is somewhat like handwriting. You might be rusty, but you probably have not forgotten how to do it.

But it might be more like speaking a language you learned and don't use very often. I don't get many chances to practice my Arabic in Seattle, and sadly, my oral skills have gone down quite drastically in the past couple of years. My comprehension, both listening and reading, hasn't changed almost at all. If anything, they may have even improved a bit somehow.

As many 'no sabo'* kids know, if you don't speak the language for long enough you may end up having to relearn it.

* In Spanish, the verb saber (to know) is irregular in the first person. It is "yo sé", not "yo sabo". "Sabo" is what you get when you apply the regular pattern (hablar to hablo, comer to como) to a verb that refuses it, so it is an instant tell that the language wasn't fully kept. Hence 'no sabo' kids: they grew up around Spanish, they understand it fine, but the speaking half slipped away.

Laziness is the default

From a simple evolutionary game theory perspective, we are always looking for the minimum amount of effort required to get a result.

That is not some terrible defect unique to modern humans. It is a reasonable survival strategy. Wasting energy for no reason is generally not useful.

But it also makes us extremely vulnerable to complacency.

When a machine can produce a plausible answer instantly, thinking through the problem yourself starts to feel inefficient. Once thinking becomes optional, it becomes very easy to stop doing it.

The gym, but for your brain

We already live in a world where we have to go jogging and go to the gym just to remain in decent physical shape.

Our sedentary lifestyles no longer demand very much from us physically. We are not hunting animals and picking berries in the forest for eight to ten hours a day. We have engineered most of that effort out of our lives, which is obviously good, but it also means we have to deliberately put some of the effort back in.

I think something similar is about to happen with our brains.

The more we outsource thinking to AI, the less we exercise the parts of our brains responsible for doing that thinking. Anyone who regularly uses these tools already knows how easy it is to let the agent become your guide instead of your thinking partner.

You start by asking it to help you think.

Then you ask it what you should think.

Eventually, you might stop noticing the difference.

We already know that as people age, it is important to keep doing mentally challenging activities. Play Scrabble. Do crosswords. Continue working, researching, learning, and generally refusing to let your brain sit idle.

AI could make this problem relevant much earlier.

We may no longer be talking only about keeping your mind active when you are seventy. We may need to start worrying about it when you are twenty-five.

A brain teaser a day

I do not have concrete suggestions yet.

But I think it would be a genuinely good practice for all of us to complete at least a few challenges every week without AI assistance.

Actual thinking challenges.

Write something from scratch. Solve a problem without asking for hints. Build a small piece of software manually. Work through an argument before checking what the machine thinks. Do a crossword. Play Scrabble. Whatever works.

Not because using AI is bad, or because we should pretend these tools do not exist, but because outsourcing a skill entirely is a very effective way to lose it.

As the future doctors will say, "a brain teaser a day keeps the idiocy at bay".