Humans have long been building technologies that change the world around them: faster cars, better tools, and more efficient machines.
AI may be one of the first widely adopted technologies that not only shapes the world around us, but increasingly influences how we think, learn, and solve problems.
John Nosta, an innovation theorist and founder of the think tank NostaLab, calls this change a “great reversal.”
“Progress seems to be increasingly about making humans better suited to the technological world we’ve created,” Nosta told Business Insider.
“Living things are the project.”
Historically, many innovations have helped people overcome physical limitations, he said. For example, humans invented the wheel to easily move heavy loads, and automobiles dramatically expanded the distance and speed humans could travel.
Nosta says AI is different because its primary impact is often cognitive rather than physical. AI isn’t just changing people’s environments, he says, it’s increasingly changing the way people think, reason, and approach decision-making.
“We’re now in the cognitive age, and what’s changing is the nature of thinking,” he says. “The path from A to B is getting shorter and shorter, and we are handing over perception to machines.”
His views reflect a growing body of research suggesting that AI could impact the way people learn, remember information and make decisions.
Researchers at Oxford University Press warned last year that while generative AI could help students learn faster and more fluently, it could also quietly diminish the depth of learning that comes from stopping, asking questions, and working through problems independently.
Meanwhile, a report from the Work AI Institute found that AI often creates the illusion of expertise, making users feel more competent even though some basic skills have begun to decline.
For Nosta, AI is an example of a broader trend. He points to GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic. Although originally developed to treat diabetes, they are now widely used for weight loss and are being studied for their potential to reduce cravings for alcohol, nicotine, and compulsive behaviors.
He said some new innovations modify human behavior so that people can function within their existing environments, rather than redesigning environments to better suit people. “Biology is the project.”
The changes have important implications for human cognition, he says.
Use AI as a partner, not a replacement
Still, Nosta doesn’t think AI is inherently harmful.
He distinguishes between “iterative intelligence,” where people use AI to gain understanding through conversation, and “cognitive surrender,” where people simply accept the answers the AI generates without participating in the thought process.
Vivienne Ming, principal scientist at the Possibility Institute, made a similar point to Business Insider in March, saying her research found that while most AI users rely on technology to think less, a minority use AI to think better.
Instead, she said, users should explore ideas, challenge assumptions, and use it as a collaborator to move the problem forward in what she describes as “productive friction,” a process in which learning and skills are formed.
Nosta described a similar approach he called “iterative intelligence.”
“The ability to approach technology using large-scale language models is a great opportunity for human progress,” he said.
But for that to happen, he said, people need to resist what he calls the “myth” that AI’s greatest value is speed and use AI as a thinking partner, even if it means spending more time wrestling with ideas.