Be careful when delegating your work to that chatbot: A new peer-reviewed study released this month by the American Psychological Association found that people who rely heavily on AI tools for their job tasks report feeling less confident in their abilities and taking less ownership of their work.
More and more research has been done on how our brains work when we use AI tools. A MIT historical study in 2025, it was discovered that our brains do not retain as much information or use the critical thinking skills needed when writing tasks are handed over to AI chatbots.
This new study aimed to understand how our human behavior, particularly executive functions – like strategic planning and decision-making – can change when AI is part of the process.
Sarah Baldeo, study author and Ph.D. candidate in AI and neuroscience at Middlesex University in England, noted in the article that these results do not show that AI harms or causes cognitive decline. Rather, they “highlight variability in how users allocate effort between themselves and AI systems under conditions of convenience and competence.” This means that people using AI make conscious trade-offs and their trust fluctuates accordingly.
The study encouraged nearly 2,000 adults to use AI for various workplace tasks, such as prioritizing projects based on deadlines, explaining strategy, and developing plans with incomplete information. They were then asked to self-report their levels of trust, ownership, and reliance on AI, including whether they had significantly changed the outcomes generated by the AI.
Overall, trust varied by AI use. Greater reliance on AI was associated with less confidence in their ability to reason independently. Participants also reported relatively few edits, meaning they often didn’t edit or put their own stamp on what the AI spit out. But those who edited the AI’s work reported feeling more confident and more like the author. Men reported using AI more than women.
The trade-off between speed and depth was one of the main themes reported by participants.
“I got an answer quicker, but I don’t think I thought as deeply as I usually do,” one participant said.
This reflects one of the biggest caveats around using AI tools. Chatbots, for example, can produce text quickly, but they don’t always have the same level of subject matter expertise that you need. AI tools can also hallucinate or invent factsso the output generated by the AI must be verified before being used.
The office is one of the main places where people use AI tools. We’re going beyond simple chatbots, with agents capable of autonomously handling tasks that would otherwise have required human intervention.
But these tools don’t necessarily improve our professional lives; study found they saved workdays longer and more unpleasant. As AI becomes more and more integrated into our professional lives, it is important to understand how it shapes our mental attitudes. Qualities such as confidence and ownership of our work are important factors in determining the quality of our work life.
