Dr Pradeep Salgaonkar elaborates on how to use AI without surrendering one’s thinking, relationships, and humanity
I was invited by an educational institution to engage a module on Brand Management for its business management students. After the first part, I gave a case study to students to be solved as home work. The next day, I was totally stunned with what the students started presenting on this case. 100% of the students had used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to solve the case. And, majority of the solutions were not realistic or closer to expected solution. It later on unfolded, that most students had not even read the full case, but read a summary that was generated by AI. The basic human skills such as reading skills, comprehension, analysis and imagination are seen compromised. Where is our younger generation heading to? Are we using AI as an intelligent tool, or are we becoming overly dependent on it?
AI is considered as one of the most transformative creations of human intelligence, that was designed to have Speed – think faster, Scope – analyse deeper and wider, and Scale – operate round the clock, which is impossible for humans. It has evolved as an everyday companion to humans, guiding in routine tasks like recommending what we watch, guiding our travel routes, drafting emails, writing letters and speeches, analysing data, and even making strategic business decisions. AI is supposed to serve as an enabler of progress and human development (mental, economic, social etc.). However, as AI systems increasingly shape content, decisions, behaviours, and relationships, a paradox has emerged whether; humans and organizations are becoming overly dependent on AI, even for mundane tasks. And, are humans being enslaved for what they created and controlled.
For business leaders, policymakers, professionals and academics and students alike, the question is no longer about whether to use AI. It is about how much dependence on AI is healthy? And, at what point would dependence turn into a strategic and human risk? It is about understanding where the balance lies, what the boundaries are, and how to keep a check on the long-term consequences of humans and intelligent machines coexistence.
Creation to Reliance: Human curiosity, logic, and cognitive capability enabled creation of AI. Though AI was in existence for decades, its real impact is felt in last few years. Its rapid evolution is now influencing how humans think, decide, communicate, and relate. In academics, AI does assignments, projects, solves problems, and writes research proposals and papers. In workplaces, AI systems draft reports, analyse performance, predict outcomes, automate communication, and even influence hiring and leadership decisions. In personal life humans tend to delegate all possible tasks to AI to reduce effort; physical effort, thinking effort, imagination effort and analyzing effort. Thus, as reliance grows, so does the risk of reduced human involvement in thinking, judgment, and creativity. In reality, what began as assistance is slowly becoming substitution. When humans stop thinking because machines think faster, a silent shift occurs, from intelligence augmentation to intelligence erosion.
One of the biggest concerns around dependence on AI is cognitive offloading. It is the tendency to delegate thinking tasks to machines. When people rely heavily on AI for problem-solving, memory, writing, or even ideation, critical thinking skills may gradually weaken. Just as overdependence on calculators’ reduced mental arithmetic skills, excessive dependence on AI could impact those skills that define human intelligence i.e analytical reasoning, creativity and originality, and independent judgment.
Can businesses and individuals afford not to use AI?
For most businesses today, the answer is unequivocally no. AI is no longer a competitive advantage; it is a competitive necessity. Organizations that completely avoid AI, struggle with efficiency, scalability, speed, and data-driven insight. AI-powered competitors deliver personalized experiences, optimize costs, and respond faster to market changes and customer needs.
In industries such as manufacturing, finance, logistics, retail, healthcare, and marketing, AI adoption has become a major strategic task. Businesses that resist AI may preserve traditional practices, but they risk irrelevance in increasingly data-intensive and time-sensitive markets. Staying relevant by upgrading in changing technological environment is critical for success. Businesses that don’t adopt AI, better change or be ready to perish sooner than later. Non-adoption is not a neutral choice, but it is a strategic risk.
For individuals, AI enhances productivity, learning, and access to information. People who ignore AI tools may find themselves less efficient and less competitive in AI-enabled workplaces. However, unlike businesses, humans face deeper cognitive and emotional consequences. Total avoidance may limit opportunity, but blind adoption and total dependence carries a different cost of higher order. The cost of weakening of critical thinking, creativity and originality, analytical capability and independent judgment. Humans cannot afford either, not to use AI nor to be totally dependent on AI.
The Three Models of Dependence on AI
1. Total Dependence on AI: In this model, businesses and humans rely almost entirely on AI for thinking, decision-making, problem-solving, and communication. Algorithms recommend, predict, and decide. Humans only execute. The advantages of such a model are obvious; increased efficiency and speed, consistency in task execution, and reduced operational errors. On the flip side, the risks, include decline in critical thinking and cognitive intelligence, blindly trusting the algorithmic outputs, ethical and accountability issues, high vulnerability during system failures.
The danger is not immediate or visible. It is gradual. Reduced attention spans, declining problem-solving depth, weakened memory, and an overreliance on prompts and suggestions. In business environments, this can result in leaders who are data-rich but insight-poor, informed but not wise.
Organizations that follow this path may appear efficient but become intellectually fragile. When data is incomplete, or context is ambiguous, or crises emerge, such organizations struggle to respond.
Total dependence on AI, thus, is not good either for businesses or humans.
2. Partial Dependence on AI: Partial dependence represents a deliberate and strategic balance. AI is used to augment human intelligence rather than replacing it. AI is used as a decision-support system, not a decision-maker. In such a balanced system, machines handle scale, speed, and complexity; humans retain judgment, creativity, ethics, decision making and accountability. The major advantages of this balanced approach are: it enables enhanced productivity without cognitive erosion, better decisions through human-AI collaboration, preservation of creativity, empathy, and human relationships, and greater adaptability in uncertainty. The challenges in adopting such a balanced approach would be having disciplined leadership and governance; ensuring continuous upskilling, and setting clear boundaries for AI use with clear dos and don’ts. This model treats AI as a strategic advisor, not an authority and hence it is seen as the most sustainable path forwardThis is the ideal model for AI adoption by striking a proper balance between AI capability and human skills.
3. Non-Dependence or No Use of AI: Some individuals and organizations consciously avoid AI due to ethical concerns, fear of using technology, fear of job displacement, or desire to preserve human-centric work. This approach has its own advantages; strong human judgment and accountability, strong imagination and analytical thinking, rich interpersonal relationships, and high levels of creativity and craftsmanship. However the non-adoption of AI has far more detrimental consequences; it leads to reduced efficiency and scalability, it creates inability to compete with AI-enabled peers, slower decision making and slower response to data-heavy challenges. In current competitive business environment, complete non-use of AI will definitely lead to strategic disadvantage.
This model is for laggards, not for progressive individuals and businesses.
Conclusion
AI is one of humanity’s great achievements, with immense benefits. But it must never replace the core human aspects like intelligence, relationships, and values. Businesses cannot afford to ignore AI, yet neither can they afford to outsource thinking and humanity to machines.
Humans cannot avoid AI, but must guard their cognitive and emotional intelligence fiercely.
The true risk lies not in intelligent machines, but in unintelligent reliance. As AI continues to evolve, the most valuable skill humans can cultivate is not how well we use AI, but how wisely we choose when not to use AI.
The future of businesses does not belong to organizations that rely most on AI, but to those that know how to use AI without surrendering their thinking, relationships, and humanity. Progress lies not in dependence, but in deliberate balance.
The true competitive advantage in the AI age will belong to those who master intentional dependence, leveraging AI’s power while preserving what makes us human.
Artificial Intelligence should make businesses smarter and humans wiser, not merely faster. Use AI judiciously in a balanced manner.
The writer is Professional Facilitator, Founder, SALDOTS Academy Email: pradeepsalgaonkar@gmail.com
