Posted by: Galaxy Consulting in Uncategorized

A recent study out of MIT warns that prolonged use of ChatGPT may dull your critical thinking skills. Brain scans showed lower cognitive engagement among users who relied on generative AI to complete writing tasks. The internet, as expected, ran with it: “AI makes you dumber.”

But the real takeaway isn’t that AI is bad. It’s that lazy workflows are.

At Galaxy Consulting, we help organizations adopt AI in ways that preserve (and often enhance) human performance. 

The more pressing question for leaders today isn’t Should we use AI? How do we ensure our teams remain sharp while using it?

Here’s what we recommend:

1. Make AI a sparring partner instead of a shortcut

Generative AI should challenge your thinking, not replace it. When we build out custom AI integrations for our clients — whether in knowledge management or content generation — we structure the workflows to require human judgment at key moments. The best results come when AI drafts, humans critique, and both evolve together.

If your team is copying and pasting AI output without context, your process is already failing. 

2. Define clear boundaries for AI usage

One of the most overlooked steps in successful AI adoption is setting limits. Not just in terms of data privacy or governance (though those matter too), but in day-to-day decision-making.

We often help companies categorize tasks as:

  • AI-accelerated (e.g., summarizing long reports),
  • AI-assisted (e.g., proposal writing, customer support queries), and
  • Human-only (e.g., strategic decisions, performance evaluations).

This framework preserves the cognitive load for what matters most — and keeps your experts from becoming dependent on automation for work they should own.

3. Encourage healthy skepticism

We’ve seen clients improve performance by fostering more dialogue around it. In our advisory work, we coach teams to treat every AI output as a first draft — one to interrogate, rewrite, and refine. This builds stronger internal muscles for critical thinking and avoids groupthink from machine-generated content.

4. Build AI literacy across departments

AI shouldn’t live in a silo. Some of the most effective transformations we’ve led at Galaxy came when marketing, operations, legal, and HR sat down together to explore the same AI platform — and discovered different use cases, risks, and workflows.

This cross-functional lens helps teams connect the dots — and keeps them from relying on AI in a vacuum.

The Bottom Line: AI Doesn’t Kill Creativity. Poor Habits Do.

MIT’s study should spark dialogue. Used carelessly, AI can lead to mental atrophy. Used intentionally, it can sharpen decision-making, improve knowledge flow, and drive faster insights.

At Galaxy Consulting, we help forward-thinking teams integrate AI into their workflows without losing their human edge. If you’re ready to empower your team — not replace them — we’re ready to help.