What the Research Says

The second International AI Safety Report, published in February 2026, is the next iteration of the comprehensive review of latest scientific research on the capabilities and risks of general-purpose AI systems. Risks to human autonomy: AI use may affect people’s ability to make informed choices and act on them. Early evidence suggests that reliance on AI tools can weaken critical thinking skills and encourage ‘automation bias’, the tendency to trust AI system outputs without sufficient scrutiny. ‘AI companion’ apps now have tens of millions of users, a small share of whom show patterns of increased loneliness and reduced social engagement.

AI is accelerating the shift from a role-based labor market to a skills-based economy, sharpening the relevance of the gap between what workers signal and what employers actually reward. To bring clarity to this transition, Wharton and Accenture developed the Wharton-Accenture Skills Index (WAsX), a recurring, empirical benchmark designed to measure which skills matter, which do not and how quickly the economy is shifting beneath us. 

Researchers from Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Peking University have identified yet another way that gender biases about competence penalize women at work. Their 2025 study found that when women and men both use AI to produce identical work product, the women are viewed as less competent than the men.  As such, employers may want to take proactive steps to counteract gender-based stereotypes about competence to level the workplace playing field and get the most value out of talented teams.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in high-stakes domains such as healthcare, law, and public administration, automation bias (AB)—the tendency to over-rely on automated recommendations—has emerged as a critical challenge in human–AI collaboration.

The rise of Generative AI (GenAI) in knowledge workflows raises questions about its impact on critical thinking skills and practices.  Researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University surveyed 319 knowledge workers to investigate 1) when and how they perceive the enaction of critical thinking when using GenAI, and 2) when and why GenAI affects their effort to do so. Participants shared 936 first-hand examples of using GenAI in work tasks. The researchers found that the more humans lean on AI tools to complete their tasks, the less critical thinking they do, making it more difficult to call upon the skills when they are needed.

The study found students were developing a dependence on AI assistance, offloading thought processes to the bot and not engaging directly with the tasks that are needed to synthesize, analyze and explain. Learners are becoming overly reliant on ChatGPT, using it to easily complete specific learning tasks without fully engaging in the learning, the authors wrote.

At Jobs for the Future (JFF),  we believe artificial intelligence (AI) holds extraordinary potential to revolutionize our economy and create a world where everyone can build livelihoods and thrive. But, as with previous technological revolutions, the benefits of AI are not guaranteed to be distributed equally, and its growth could either accelerate progress for all or further widen divides.

Artificial Intelligence has become an invaluable tool in academia, offering instant feedback, personalized learning experiences, and support for various academic tasks. This study investigates the impact of ChatGPT, an AI-driven language model, on developing critical thinking, evaluation, and independent judgment skills among higher education students across various academic disciplines.

Carr’s cover story for The Atlantic, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?,” helped crystallize a sense of unease that had just started to dampen widespread enthusiasm for online life and its possibilities. Carr’s cover story was the first in a long line of explorations in The Atlantic about the unintended consequences of online life on our minds and behaviors.

The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools has transformed numerous aspects of daily life, yet its impact on critical thinking remains underexplored. This study investigates the relationship between AI tool usage and critical thinking skills, focusing on cognitive offloading as a mediating factor. The findings underscore the importance of fostering critical thinking in an AI-driven world, making this research essential reading for educators, policymakers, and technologists.

The 2025 peer-reviewed study of 666 participants found a significant negative relationship between frequent AI use and critical thinking ability, mediated by cognitive offloading—the delegation of reasoning to AI rather than active human engagement—particularly among younger and early-career users (MDPI, Societies, 2025).

This study found that AI technologies such as ChatGPT may promote learners' dependence on technology and potentially trigger metacognitive "laziness", which can potentially hinder their ability to self-regulate and engage deeply in learning.

Highlights risks of cognitive dependency and reduced skill development among early-career learners who rely on Al for higher order reasoning tasks.

Generative AI is filling the internet with false information. Artists, writers, and many other professionals are in fear of their jobs. AI is discovering new medicines, running military drones, and transforming the world around us—yet we do not understand the decisions it makes, and we don’t know how to control them.

Futurists predict that a third of jobs that exist today could be taken by Smart Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Algorithms (STARA) by 2025. However, very little is known about how employees perceive these technological advancements in regards to their own jobs and careers, and how they are preparing for these potential changes.