'AI gravity' is pulling you toward dependency. Here's how to push back (MIT Sloan School of Management, 6/2/2026)

[highplainsdem]

https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/ai-gravity-pulling-you-toward-dependency-heres-how-to-push-back

Eric So, a professor of global economics and behavioral science at the MIT Sloan School of Management, believes that AI is changing the way people’s brains operate, creating a trap where users become overly dependent on the technology, with potentially serious ramifications for business.

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“We need to do as much as we can to preserve our capabilities, to recognize when these tools are wrong, to understand when they are missing something, and to be able to take action when these systems fail,” he said.

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“The combination and confluence of these factors lead to ‘AI gravity’ — the constant pull and push to outsource more of our thinking to AI in order to become more efficient,” So said.

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More broadly, those effects can mean that tacit institutional knowledge — the material people learn from experience and years of practice — is at risk, especially among the younger members of the workforce. “As we lose practice with the hands-on work and problem-solving that build deep expertise, we naturally lose some of that skill associated with it,” So said. “It’s a real threat to organizations that thrive on continuity.”

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It's a real threat to individuals, too - whatever they're using AI for.