Diminishing returns: the impact of artificial intelligence on cognitive and decision-making skills

Purpose As artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled systems have taken a front seat in most work tasks, there is a growing concern that over-reliance on these technologies may lead to a decline in cognitive abilities of employees. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of over-reliance on Artificial Intelligence(AI) on employee cognitive skills, specifically in areas such as memory, decision-making and problem-solving. Design/methodology/approach This study follows a qualitative research design to explore the impact of AI integration in work tasks on employees’ cognitive skills. With the use of cognitive load theory (CLT), this research explores the impact of AI use on memory, decision-making and problem-solving skills of the employees. To gain insights, semistructured interviews were conducted with twenty five professionals from the IT sector working in AI enabled organizational environments across multinational firms in India. Furthermore, with the use of Gioia methodology, first-order categories, second-order themes and aggregate dimensions were generated. Findings The research provides fresh insights into the cognitive implications of AI reliance. It highlights how the shift in cognitive load distribution among employees can adversely impact the cognitive skills of the employees. The findings of this study indicate that while AI enhances efficiency, but excessive delegation of tasks may lead to a decline in employees’ active engagement in critical cognitive processes and can result in cognitive atrophy. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to IT sector professionals, which may restrict the generalizability of the findings to other industries. However, the choice aligns with qualitative inductive research approaches, where smaller purposive samples are considered appropriate for generating thematic insights. Future research could expand the sample and explore similar effects in sectors like health care, finance and education for broader relevance. Practical implications The present study provides valuable insights that can be of great use for AI system designers, organizations and policymakers while developing strategies that balance AI efficiency with human cognitive well-being. Social implications The study covers in detail the cognitive effects of AI integration and as such, this research provides an alert and information to the workforce about the positive and negative side of the use of AI. Originality/value Going with the previous literature on human vs machine intelligence, there is a copious research that talks about the emerging role of AI in the companies and how it adds to the benefits of the individuals as the professionals but there are very few research papers that discussed the adverse impact of the increasing intervention of AI enabled super systems on employees’ decision making and cognitive skills. This study contributes to the growing discussions on AI’s role in workplace cognition from the lens of cognitive underload, an area which remains under-researched.