The AI Atrophy Problem: How CIOs Fight It
AI tools can help teams become faster and more efficient. But as organizations race to integrate artificial intelligence into more workflows, a problem is taking shape: the erosion of the critical thinking skills that leaders value.
At the 2026 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, we asked technology and business leaders to answer this question: What is one thing you do to keep critical thinking sharp as AI takes over more work? Their responses revealed a shared concern and a growing set of practical strategies for fighting back against what some people refer to as “AI atrophy.”
Michael Schrage, a research fellow at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, offered a memorable reframe for AI users: “Don’t view these [AI] outputs as answers — view them as hypotheses that you should test and stress-test.” His approach is to enjoy a compelling AI output for a moment, then immediately challenge the tool...
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