Savvy Talks: 🧠 Is AI Making Us Dumber… or Just More Passive?

 
Originally aired on 4/20/2026 for WGN Radio 720.

Yesterday it was attention spans. Today it’s something a little more uncomfortable: Are we actually getting… dumber? Or are we just getting used to not thinking?

Because here’s the thing—AI feels incredible at first.

It writes. It answers. It organizes your thoughts.
And (bonus) it tends to agree with you, which is very flattering.

You feel smarter just using it.

But spend a little time with it and something else starts to happen: Everything begins to sound the same. A little polished. A little flat. A little forgettable.

That’s the real issue. It’s not that AI is making us dumb.
It’s that it’s making it very easy to become passive.

⚠️ What’s Actually Happening

There are a few subtle ways this shows up—and once you see them, you can’t unsee them.

1️⃣ It Removes the Struggle (Which Is the Point)

AI goes from question → answer instantly.

But thinking doesn’t happen in the answer. It happens in the messy middle:

• Confusion

• Trial and error

• Figuring out what you actually believe

Skip that, and you’re not really learning.

👉 If everything feels easy, you’re probably not growing.

2️⃣ It Makes “Good Enough” Feel… Good Enough

AI is polished. But it’s also average. It sounds smart. It reads well. It feels complete. And that’s exactly why it’s dangerous.

Because instead of asking: “How can I make this better?” We stop at:
“That works.”

👉 That’s how standards quietly drop.

3️⃣ It Weakens Your Ability to Start

This one is sneaky. When you rely on AI for:

• Ideas

• First drafts

• What to say

You stop building your own starting muscle. And starting?
That’s the whole game.

👉 If you can’t start, you can’t create anything original.

4️⃣ It Flattens Taste

AI pulls from everything. Which means what it gives you is often the average of everything.

So you get:

• The same tone

• The same phrasing

• The same recycled ideas

Everything starts to feel a little… beige.

👉 And taste—the ability to choose what’s good—is what makes you interesting.

5️⃣ It Creates the Illusion of Knowledge

This is the big one. You can sound informed without actually understanding anything.

Before, you had to:

• Read it

• Think about it

• Process it

Now? You can just generate it.

👉 That’s not intelligence. That’s performance.

✨ The Flip Side (Because There Is One)

AI can also make you much smarter. But only if you use it differently.

Not to replace thinking— but to sharpen it.

Lazy Use vs Smart Use

Lazy:

• “Write this for me”

• “Give me the answer”

• “Tell me what to say”

Smart:

• “Critique this and make it sharper”

• “Give me 3 opposing viewpoints”

• “Challenge my thinking”

🎯 The Savvy Take

AI isn’t making us dumber. It’s just making it incredibly easy to:

• Stop thinking

• Accept average

• Skip the hard (but important) parts

And let’s be honest— Most people will take that deal. The question is…Are you one of them?