Generative AI tools have gone from novelty to near-constant presence, appearing in search results, schoolwork, office software and everyday conversations.
Now, a group of researchers is arguing that this rapid spread may resemble something more contagious than convenient.
Here's what to know
Futurism reported that researchers from several countries proposed this idea in a paper that has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Their framework suggested that large language models such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude can move through society in a virus-like way at the cultural and cognitive level rather than the biological level.
In their view, the same usefulness that helps these tools spread may also lead people to depend on them more by offloading mental work.
The authors wrote, "Here we introduce the idea of [large language models] as cognitive viruses. Culturally transmitted technologies whose spread is promoted by their usefulness but can also increase dependence through cognitive offloading."
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They explained that people have rapidly transitioned to LLMs because of their "contagion-like component … because people learn from other people."
As with many viruses, the human impact is grim.
"Loss of autonomy becomes self-reinforcing and the population can move rapidly toward a state of much stronger cognitive offloading and lower cognitive competence," they argued.
"At the population level, immunization does not mean preventing contact with AI," the researchers' paper read. "It means preserving the practices and institutions that keep human cognition active: unaided problem solving, verification, critical discussion, periods of deliberate disengagement, maintenance of non-AI skills, and educational designs in which the model supports rather than completes the cognitive task."
More background
The concern comes as AI tools are quickly becoming part of ordinary routines. People increasingly use chatbots to draft emails, summarize documents, brainstorm ideas, and answer questions they might once have researched or thought through more deeply.
AI can save time and improve accessibility. At the same time, critics have raised concerns about misinformation, security risks, bias, cheating, and the possibility that people may grow less confident in their own judgment if they become too reliant on machine-generated answers.
That argument is not just about software or screens, but about how the technology may shape human habits and affect the way people make sense of the world around them.
Where can I learn more?
Generative AI spreads by becoming useful enough to feel unavoidable. While it can have benefits, concerns also remain about the technology's strain on vital resources and its impact on human productivity.
• Across tech, backlash against AI is growing over jobs, water and electricity use.
• At Big Tech firms, AI infrastructure spending is outrunning the power grid.
• Utilities are signing unprecedented data center deals as AI demand strains power systems.
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