--- title: Do not give up your brain | daily.dev description: While AI tools like ChatGPT can be valuable assistants, over-reliance on them for basic tasks like writing emails or generating responses can atrophy critical... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/do-not-give-up-your-brain-jb9xoabfe twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Do not give up your brain | daily.dev og:description: While AI tools like ChatGPT can be valuable assistants, over-reliance on them for basic tasks like writing emails or generating responses can atrophy critical... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/do-not-give-up-your-brain-jb9xoabfe og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/JB9XOabfe.png og:image:alt: Do not give up your brain og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Do not give up your brain **[Cassidy's blog](https://daily.dev/sources/cassidoo)** · [@cassidoo](https://daily.dev/cassidoo) · 2 min read · 439 upvotes · 35 comments ## Summary While AI tools like ChatGPT can be valuable assistants, over-reliance on them for basic tasks like writing emails or generating responses can atrophy critical thinking skills. People who depend on AI for communication often struggle in real-time conversations. Maintaining mental sharpness requires actively using your brain rather than defaulting to AI for every task. The key is treating AI as a tool to augment thinking, not replace it. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@akkitto** · 35 upvotes > True. It's easier for people who did not grow up with AI. They are already used to it. But those kids who know nothing but AI really worry me. It could seriously hurt their brain and intelligence in the long-term. **@guardgoose** · 10 upvotes > I see the authors point here of not letting our critical thinking skills falls due to overuse of AI. > > What I don't agree with is making vague statements like "I’ve seen multiple people now who are really good at communicating online, but then when you converse with them in person, they freeze up". > > There can be a multitude of reasons why someone could present like this, one to mention particularly is neurodivergent sensory issues of which IT has a high percentage of due to the nature of the work, communicating via email allows some of these individuals to collect their thoughts and focus on... **@tkouleris** · 7 upvotes > I agree 100%. And I do love what you quoted from Dune! **@devinweidinger** · 4 upvotes > AI is most valuable when it sharpens thinking, not when it replaces it. The real risk isn’t using AI, but skipping the mental work that keeps reasoning and communication skills strong. **@maheshverma35** · 2 upvotes > So true. Don't let AI do the thinking for you. Our brain is a lazy organ. If we let it develop habit of not thinking then later on it will be hard to regain the skill of critical thinking, a skill which is very important in software engineering. Just like iron corrodes when you don't use it. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How Outsourcing Your Thinking is Quietly Ruining Your Mind](https://daily.dev/posts/how-outsourcing-your-thinking-is-quietly-ruining-your-mind-pqrm0qvdp) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Are AI chatbots making us lose control of our brains?](https://daily.dev/posts/are-ai-chatbots-making-us-lose-control-of-our-brains--4oezuox9w) · MIT Technology Review · 6 upvotes · 2 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity), [#chatgpt](https://daily.dev/tags/chatgpt) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/do-not-give-up-your-brain-jb9xoabfe) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Do not give up your brain","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/do-not-give-up-your-brain-jb9xoabfe","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/do-not-give-up-your-brain-jb9xoabfe"},"datePublished":"2026-01-17T03:20:28.764Z","dateModified":"2026-01-18T00:00:15.532Z","description":"While AI tools like ChatGPT can be valuable assistants, over-reliance on them for basic tasks like writing emails or generating responses can atrophy critical...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/9c4ceefb90949c17e1377a65dd6feef4?_a=AQAEulh","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/9c4ceefb90949c17e1377a65dd6feef4?_a=AQAEulh","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Cassidy's blog","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Cassidy Williams","url":"https://daily.dev/cassidoo","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1454517?v=4","description":"making memes and dreams and software","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":2180}},"commentCount":35,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/do-not-give-up-your-brain-jb9xoabfe","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":439},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":35}],"keywords":"ai,career,productivity,chatgpt","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cassidy's blog","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/cassidoo"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Do not give up your brain"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/do-not-give-up-your-brain-jb9xoabfe","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"True. It’s easier for people who did not grow up with AI. They are already used to it. But those kids who know nothing but AI really worry me. It could seriously hurt their brain and intelligence in the long-term.","datePublished":"2026-01-18T15:07:18.800Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/JB9XOabfe#c-D5keLrSWI","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel","url":"https://daily.dev/akkitto","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--FtwJqX4c--/f_auto/v1754900041/avatars/avatar_29TCpY2hJR72V3BlxPXzX?_a=BAMClqZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":35}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I see the authors point here of not letting our critical thinking skills falls due to overuse of AI.\nWhat I don’t agree with is making vague statements like “I’ve seen multiple people now who are really good at communicating online, but then when you converse with them in person, they freeze up”.\nThere can be a multitude of reasons why someone could present like this, one to mention particularly is neurodivergent sensory issues of which IT has a high percentage of due to the nature of the work, communicating via email allows some of these individuals to collect their thoughts and focus on the system design.\nLabelling someone as “Lazy AI Brain” needs to be approached cautiously here particularly given the high concentration of neurodiverse individuals in Engineering. I personally know many that would present like this at a social event as an example due to over stimulation, not because they are lazy…\nMaybe the author specifically meant technical proficiency here when communicating 1:1 but the blog post really comes across as “author has met people with less communication skills and is now applying a catch all of, oh they must be lazy and using AI for everything”","datePublished":"2026-01-26T11:44:48.119Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/JB9XOabfe#c-tfbvn6M6E","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"GuardGoose","url":"https://daily.dev/guardgoose","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/16414893?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":10}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I agree 100%. And I do love what you quoted from Dune!","datePublished":"2026-01-19T02:43:47.880Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/JB9XOabfe#c-OGmTXmRDM","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Thodoris Kouleris","url":"https://daily.dev/tkouleris","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--uIsOE4Yj--/f_auto/v1767330823/avatars/avatar_MCMbuJilInDUS9HqV2wPG?_a=BAMAK+ZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":7}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"AI is most valuable when it sharpens thinking, not when it replaces it. The real risk isn’t using AI, but skipping the mental work that keeps reasoning and communication skills strong.","datePublished":"2026-01-22T16:30:45.196Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/JB9XOabfe#c-A7PKqgmTi","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Devin Weidinger","url":"https://daily.dev/devinweidinger","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocLXFU-SGryQUuzkPdVe_WektQsSN-6WCoMkaEqwFaPzujH4DQDQcg=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"So true. Don’t let AI do the thinking for you. Our brain is a lazy organ. If we let it develop habit of not thinking then later on it will be hard to regain the skill of critical thinking, a skill which is very important in software engineering. Just like iron corrodes when you don’t use it.","datePublished":"2026-02-02T04:01:39.564Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/JB9XOabfe#c-rpmqHwVuK","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahesh Verma","url":"https://daily.dev/maheshverma35","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocKz3hEey0PjWmOo9BBUP6dW3xiaAyg7Vlhau5CcSeOxwISyj7sx=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}}]} ```