AI User Accidentally Discovers Thinking: Is AI Making Us Smarter?

Apr 25, 2026

Recently I saw a meme where a person posted that they often find the answer simply while in the process of figuring out the prompt they intend to feed to AI. The comment under the post quipped, “AI user accidentally discovers thinking!” I found it to be first-class wit and it gave me a good chuckle. But it also sparked a very satisfying internal debate: could it be that AI is actually making us smarter?

Are We Becoming Smarter Through AI?

Some may disagree, but considering that the general consensus seems to be that humans are the undisputed pattern-recognition champions of the known cosmos, it may not be such a great leap to imagine that we are becoming, in some strange and science-fiction-ish way, AI savants.

By that I mean we may not fully understand how it is happening, but perhaps an evolution of thinking is taking place. We could be intuitively adopting AI’s general way of approaching problems and making it our own – at least in terms of overall process, rather than the deep details of data and knowledge.

Now that I explore the idea myself, it does not seem so far-fetched. Fleshing out an idea through whatever algorithmic progression a person has developed from years of experience, imperfect as it may be, really does seem to be what we call thinking. And language has long been shown to be deeply connected to that process – a tool for thought itself.

How AI Is Changing the Way We Think

So let us consider whether AI is actually making us smarter. Could it be that we are recognising a better way to structure our thoughts and are now faced with the difficult decision to update the model of logic we have relied on for so long?

Is that not what education has always been?

Learning is not easy, and anything worth doing rarely is.

Ultimately, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. So the real question is this: are we becoming more or less productive as a result of AI?

My Personal Experience With AI and Productivity

Speaking strictly for myself, the answer is an emphatic yes.

And the reason I have become more productive is not in the way you might think. In my experience, there are two main reasons.

First, I have taken many ideas and tested their feasibility using AI. These projects were completely stalled because I had convinced myself that certain barriers existed. AI pushed back on those assumptions, and I realised those steps were in fact possible. Admittedly, I was miffed. Ironically so.

Second, my way of approaching problems has been strongly and positively influenced by AI. In the same way we all had to learn how and what to Google, I believe the format in which we engage with AI is teaching us to pre-format our own questions. In doing so, we often shake loose many of our confusions before the answer even arrives.

The Bigger Question: What Happens Next?

So the future of AI may be very different from what we currently imagine once we factor in the influence AI itself could have on the way we think.

If we all become much smarter… what then?

I leave that question open to you.

What do you predict?

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