You are Making Yourself Stupid If You Use AI to Help You Generate Answers

 

When AI became a popular plaything, something interesting happened.

People started to panic.

They worried about being eliminated by AI.

So many were forced to learn how to use it.

Humans upgraded their skills.

AI upgraded its capabilities.

Both sides were racing—

hoping not to be replaced.

But Sam Altman said something that completely changed the way I see this fear.

He said:

We don’t need to fear being surpassed by AI.

What we should fear is losing our curiosity.

But this curiosity is often misunderstood.

• It’s not about liking new gadgets.
• It’s not about chasing the latest technology.
• It’s not about trying every new AI tool.

Real curiosity is this:

• Are you still the one who decides what the problem is?

Before AI existed, human value was very clear.

If you knew the answer, you had value.

If you didn’t, you didn’t.

Knowledge was power.

Answers were currency.

We were always in a hurry—to know more, faster.

But AI broke that definition.

Today, one question doesn’t have one answer.

It has hundreds… even infinite answers.

So the problem is no longer a lack of answers.

The problem is a lack of meaning.

That’s why the future doesn’t belong to people who answer better.

It belongs to people who know why.

Why this question matters.

Why this direction is worth pursuing.

Why this answer should be trusted over another.

This is where Altman made a shocking statement:

99% of people are already being “multiplied” by AI.

Sounds terrifying, right?

But listen carefully—

he wasn’t warning us about AI replacing humans.

He was warning us about humans outsourcing their thinking.

He said something crucial:

No matter how powerful AI becomes, don’t let it distract your thinking.

If AI is only used to:

• Write your weekly reports
• generate articles
• post content for you

Then something subtle happens.

Your output increases.

But your brain shrinks.

Your thinking becomes reactive, not intentional.

There was also a reflection shared by Jenson Huang of Nvidia, someone who uses AI every single day.

His conclusion was unexpected.

He said:

Using AI didn’t make my cognitive ability weaker.

It exposed whether my thinking was evolving or stagnant.

AI doesn’t decide your future.

It reveals it.

If you use AI to avoid thinking,

your thinking deteriorates.

If you use AI to challenge, test, and refine your judgment,

your thinking evolves faster than ever.

So the real dividing line in the AI era is not:

• who is better at using AI
• who produces more content
• who learns faster tools

The real dividing line is this:

👉 Who still owns the problem definition?

AI can generate answers.

Only humans can define meaning.

AI can multiply effort.

Only humans can choose direction.

And curiosity, real curiosity, is the courage to keep asking:

“What is the right problem to solve?”

That is the one thing AI cannot take from you.