It seems that the concern is about how artificial intelligence (AI) will change our lives and possibly even who we are psychologically and biologically. Some suggest it is robbing us of our humanity by increasing passive consumption and over-reliance on AI-generated information. Others suggest that, like the Industrial Revolution, AI will free us from many of the burdens that plague us. They say AI will bring out the best potential in us – make us more human. So is AI friend or foe? The answer seems to be “It depends”.
Current status of AI
Currently, AI does not generate thoughts or knowledge independently of the data it receives. Rather, it produces results through varying degrees of information recall and new recombination of learned patterns or other forms of information. Even so-called new results from AI are necessarily based on previously obtained information, even if the particular result itself never existed before. Consider what I previously called recombinant AI (Psychology todayApril 9, 2026). The main disadvantage of such an approach is that AI does not have the ability to independently assess the accuracy of the information it receives and its recombination result. Therefore, it may provide false or inaccurate information. So if you’re looking to AI for all the answers, be forewarned.
Risk of passive consumption
More troubling from a public health perspective than the potential consequences of error, AI may encourage passive consumption of information. The risk of passive consumption with AI has not yet been determined. That being said, there are concerns that the continued use and reliance on AI could stifle critical thinking, create functional dependencies and potentially contribute to depression and isolation and even the potential for unwanted changes in brain morphology. Such results were associated with excess Social media use (Montag & Becker, 2023; Shensa, et al., 2018), so concerns have been generalized to AI.
The greatest potential of AI?
Rather than relying on AI for answers, perhaps AI’s greatest potential, from a psychological perspective, may lie in the questions it can ask rather than the answers. Through the use of questions, AI has the potential to help us develop critical thinking skills, encourage empathy, and perspectiveand promote more psychological and biological stability.
How it works
To begin with, even in its current form, AI is able to use active listening methods to strengthen the therapeutic alliance, which consists of a sense of connection (hearing), empathy (understanding) and cathartic ventilation (Malouin-Lacans, et al., 2025). Psychologist Carl Rogers argued that these elements are necessary and sufficient conditions for self-improvement and therapeutic change. The net effect may be to transfer your values, optimismand even self-efficacy.
Looking beyond the therapeutic alliance, some 2,000 years ago in the Greek Golden Age, Socrates sought to encourage virtue and goodness. wisdom. As the greatest teacher of his era, he trained those who became the most influential philosophers of his time. Counterintuitively, he used difficult questions rather than answers pedagogy. Perhaps in accordance with the teachings of Confucius, Socrates believed that the highest form of wisdom came from introspection and self-reflection. Challenging questions can develop both self-awareness and self-awareness.
Fast forward to the modern age neurologywe see that questions, especially open-ended thinking questions, have a unique power. Open-ended questions engage different neural networks in both hemispheres. More specifically, left-hemisphere analytical thinking is likely associated with right-hemisphere integrative contextual awareness, which fosters increased cognitive flexibility. emotional regulation, creativity and sustainability (Southwick & Charney, 2018). The most creative and resilient brains may be those that engage multiple and diverse interhemispheric integration areas. The gateway to such a wonderful symphony of creativity and resilience may lie in thoughtful questions. It seems that AI is capable of conducting this symphony.
So is AI friend or foe? Over-reliance on AI to answer all our questions has the potential to open Pandora’s box. So instead of asking the AI for all the right answers, ask the AI for the right questions. AI can help us get from where we want to be by developing self-confidence. Questions allow us to look outside of ourselves and dream, but more importantly they allow us to look within and awaken abilities we don’t know we have. AI can help us in ways that AI itself cannot. Maybe AI can help us be more ‘human’.
(c) George S. Everly, Jr., Ph.D., 2026.
