Educational articles

Ramunė Dirvanskienė / personal photo

We are living in an era where there is much talk about new artificial intelligence (AI) tools and their use. As technology advances, more and more human functions are being transferred to external objects. We see that as knowledge shifts to the digital realm, the culture of storytelling and interpersonal relationships deteriorate because we pay less attention to the knowledge that others can share with us. If we need to learn something, we can find the information ourselves in the digital space, which greatly affects our communication skills.

Whatever AI function we develop, the more we use it, the worse our ability to perform it ourselves will become, because our brain is an extremely lazy organ: as soon as it feels that it can perform the same function with less energy, it immediately destroys the cells, it doesn't carry them. The brain is only about 2% of the body's weight and consumes about 25% of its energy, so it tends to take advantage of the opportunities offered by working intelligence. Take map apps for example: the more they are used, the harder it is to find and remember the way, and the less well the parts of the brain that are responsible for orientation in space work. I myself like to check my English grammar and sentence structure with ChatGPT, and I can see my ability to construct sentences in writing weakening: I have become dependent on the tool and I no longer trust my own resources.

I would like to draw attention to an important function for human beings: self-efficacy. Both in my studies of child development and happiness at an older age, I see that self-efficacy and self-confidence are very important. But how is it developed? By setting a manageable task, overcoming it and seeing feedback. We scientists also see neurochemical changes: when a task is completed, hormones such as dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin are released, which makes a person feel happy. What if it is not done for him, if it is done by him? That physiology is not happening. My little daughter says in the morning: "I'll put on my tights myself", "I'll button my sweater myself", and if I do it for her, she is very unhappy, unsatisfied and angry. It is the same in our relationship with the AI: when we do it ourselves, when we make our own contribution, even if the result is inferior, we feel happier. This is also observed on a physiological level: if someone else does the work for us, the brain does not release the chemicals and we do not feel happy. And after all, it's so good to be thought of as an expert, so good to know more than someone else. And if that feeling is taken away... I think that with the development of AI, we will become better workers, but we will be less happy.

Excerpt from the radio programme "The Future Gene". Host Rasa Balte Balčiūnienė