AI Expert Warns Against Outsourcing Thinking Despite Using LLMs for Research

What was said

"The risk with large language models is that we just get lazy and whenever we need to know something, we just get it to tell us what to think. That is not the route to happiness or satisfaction or anything. We need to continue to do the hard work of preparing our minds because that's what makes us people."

Sebastian Mallaby, author of books on venture capital and AI, argues that while he uses AI to synthesize scientific papers before interviews, he refuses to let it write for him because writing is his core thinking process. He warns that the real danger of AI is mental laziness, not technical limitations, and insists people must protect activities that define their identity and purpose.