The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking (Lee et al., 2025) | Microsoft Research

Welcome to Revise and Resubmit!Imagine this: You're in the middle of an important project, and instead of wrestling with ideas, you turn to Generative AI for help. It suggests solutions, refines your writing, even drafts entire reports. The work gets done faster, easier. But here’s the catch—are you still thinking critically? Or is the AI doing the thinking for you?Today, we dive into a fascinating research paper from ACM CHI 2025 titled “The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers.” The study, authored by HPH Lee, A Sarkar, L Tankelevitch, I Drosos, S Rintel, R Banks, N Wilsonsdall, and Rui Mata, and published by Microsoft Research and ACM, explores how knowledge workers interact with Generative AI—and how their confidence, both in themselves and in AI, shapes the way they think.Through a survey of 319 professionals, this research uncovers a shift: When workers trust AI too much, their critical thinking diminishes. When they trust themselves more, their engagement in critical thinking grows. The study reveals a transformation in cognitive effort—from active problem-solving to verifying AI-generated responses and integrating them into workflows. It raises an urgent question: Are we designing AI tools that empower human thinking, or are we quietly outsourcing our minds to machines?Let’s break it all down.A big thank you to the authors and publishers of this paper for their incredible work. If you enjoyed this discussion, don’t forget to subscribe to Revise and Resubmit on Spotify and check out our YouTube channel, Weekend Researcher. You can also find us on Amazon Prime and Apple Podcasts.Now, here’s something to think about: If Generative AI makes thinking easier, at what point do we stop thinking altogether?ReferenceLee, H. P. H., Sarkar, A., Tankelevitch, L., Drosos, I., Rintel, S., Banks, R., & Wilson, N. (2025). The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers. Microsoft Research. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713778Youtube Channel⁠https://www.youtube.com/@weekendresearcher⁠Support us on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/weekendresearcher‌