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AI and Aging: Cognitive Crutch or Thinking Cap?
Image created in Canva.With so much having been written on AI, I’ve hesitated to weigh in on how it impacts an aging population. But as an advisor and somebody who cares deeply about his senior clients, I’d like to carve out a few observations on AI—the ones I actually use with my clients, friends, and family.The simplest way I’ve found to think about artificial intelligence is this: AI doesn’t replace you. It exposes you.That idea came into sharper focus for me in a recent conversation with colleagues. Underneath all the noise—job loss headlines, productivity hype, futuristic speculation—there’s a quieter, more practical truth: AI is a competence amplifier. It magnifies how you already think, decide, and engage with the world.That has very different implications depending on where you are in life.In my world, that shows up in financial decisions. AI can sharpen your thinking or give you false confidence in a plan you don’t fully understand. The difference isn’t the tool—it’s the thinking behind it.One of the more uncomfortable observations that came up is how easy it is to turn your brain off when using AI. Not everyone does this, but the technology makes it easier than ever to outsource your thought process.If you’re already someone who thinks clearly, asks good questions, and challenges assumptions, AI becomes a powerful partner. You can use it to explore topics, accelerate thinking, and sharpen ideas.For passive thinkers, though, AI reinforces that behavior. It shoots out answers so quickly, so confidently, and so conversationally that it creates an aura of omniscience. If you’re already a passive thinker, chances are you won’t poke under the hood and verify if those answers are incomplete, inaccurate, or even deceptive (more on that in a moment). You start to feel informed, but without being thoughtful and also perhaps wildly inaccurate.That’s the exposure problem.That’s particularly dangerous with money. Feeling informed is not the same as being informed. I’ve already seen people use AI to validate decisions they’d already emotionally committed to—retirement timing, investment shifts, even major purchases—without ever stress-testing the assumptions.For those still working, the AI conversation tends to default to job security. Will I be replaced by AI? That is upsetting, but it also obscures the more immediate issue: capability.AI is already replacing certain types of work—document review in law, basic analysis in finance, routine administrative tasks...
Feeling overly dependent on AI? Here are 5 ways to keep your brain sharp.
Executives, professors, and neurologists shared how AI users can stay sharp. Olga Rolenko/Getty Images 2026-04-12T09:45:01.251Z If you're concerned you're outsourcing too much critical thinking to AI, you're not alone. We asked tech executives, professors, and neurologists what can be done to stay sharp. They suggest gaining deep expertise, creating a brain routine, and writing first drafts without AI. It's getting harder to resist the temptation to pull up a chatbot and switch off your brain for simple tasks, like replying to emails. But that convenience comes with a downside: If you stop engaging in tasks that require critical thinking, creativity, and judgment, those mental muscles can weaken over time.As AI becomes increasingly embedded in everyday work, some researchers have found that a heavy reliance on AI is quietly deskilling workers.It's a concern for average employees, too. Nearly half of 2,950 workers surveyed by Workday last year worried AI agents would lead to a decline in critical thinking.Anurag Dhingra, Cisco's senior vice president and general manager of enterprise connectivity and collaboration, told Business Insider in October that the concern comes with every major technological revolution. It's the age-old question, Dhingra said: "Are we getting too dependent — and does that mean we're getting dumber as a result?"The short answer? Not necessarily.Dr. Majid Fotuhi, a Johns Hopkins professor who studies neuroplasticity and Alzheimer's prevention, told Business Insider that passively relying on technology can lead to a decline in our ability to think critically. However, if used correctly, AI can force our brains to process and analyze more information, which is good.We asked executives, professors, and neurologists about how AI users can stay sharp:1. Go deep on a topicDhingra said that developing a deep understanding of a topic can help keep critical thinking skills fresh. For example, he said he invests a lot of time in understanding how AI models are built and function, using a range of models as tools to help him digest information.Gloria Mark, a chancellor's professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, suggests adopting everyday habits that encourage deep thinking, like reading challenging long-form material or taking online courses that require sustained focus."It's more about lifelong learning — returning to what we did as students to build our capacity," she said.She cautioned against "the trap of taki...
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