I often reflect on the timing of my academic journey with a sense of gratitude. I completed my PhD just before the era of mass automation truly took hold—pre-GPT-3, to be precise. This allowed me to acquire skills through sheer effort and persistence, without the crutch of advanced AI tools. Take my English proficiency, for example: I learned it the hard way, grappling with grammar, vocabulary, and nuanced expression through countless hours of reading, writing, and self-correction. If I were pursuing the same path today, I might lean heavily on AI for drafting papers, emails, or even casual communication, potentially stunting my growth. I’m relieved I didn’t miss out on that foundational struggle—it’s made me more capable and self-reliant.
But this personal anecdote highlights a broader, more troubling trend: as AI surges forward, humans are not just being outpaced; we’re actively regressing, widening the gap between our potential and our reality. This constitutes a paradox, as at the time I am writing these words, we live in an atmosphere of AI-Anxiety as people are afraid of being replaced, but technology misuse, and the loss of human skills and knowledge caused by AI reliance, make us even more replaceable.
Behavioral Flaws and Fake Productivity
While AI ascends, humans are devolving, lured into comfort by the very technologies we create. We outsource essential skills to machines, eroding our abilities over time. Consider coding: aspiring programmers might rely on AI to generate snippets, skipping the deep understanding of algorithms and logic that comes from manual debugging. In creative arts, digital painting and drawing apps with AI assistance mean fewer people learn foundational techniques like perspective or color theory—why sketch by hand when an algorithm can “fix” it?
Worse, humans often use these technologies improperly, exacerbating inefficiency. For instance, over-relying on AI for writing without editing results in generic, error-prone output, making individuals seem less competent. This misuse renders us more replaceable: a worker who can’t communicate effectively without AI is easily automated away. It’s a paradox—people fear job loss to AI but behave in ways that hasten it. By surrendering skills and knowledge, we forfeit our leverage, reinforcing the incentive for replacement. We’re not just adapting to technology; we’re diminishing ourselves through it. The paradox of our time is that AI’s greatest promise—unprecedented productivity and prosperity—depends entirely on maintaining human excellence.
There’s also a more technical concern: model collapse. AI systems trained predominantly on AI-generated content begin to lose coherence and quality, like making copies of copies until the image degrades beyond recognition. Human-created content isn’t just valuable—it’s essential fuel for AI’s continued evolution. Writers must keep writing, artists must keep creating, and thinkers must keep thinking, not despite AI but because of it. Our original thoughts and authentic expressions are the diverse dataset that keeps AI systems robust and innovative.
Human Devolution
The humans of tomorrow risk becoming mere shadows of today’s, much like how modern sedentarity has eroded our physical prowess. Ancient humans were paragons of athleticism—hunters and gatherers who ran marathons daily, built muscle through necessity, and maintained peak health without gyms or supplements. Today, technology-enabled lifestyles promote inactivity, leading to widespread health issues like obesity and weakened immunity. Similarly, our cognitive and creative “muscles” are atrophying.
This devolution predicts a decrease in performance and skills at every educational level—a form of educational deflation. A PhD earned today might command respect for rigorous, independent work, but future doctorates could be devalued if candidates rely on AI for research, analysis, and writing. Without true mastery, PhDs may become less reputable, symbolizing not expertise but adept tool usage. The gap widens not just between AI and humans, but between past and future generations of humanity.
Countering the Gap: Adaptation and Potential Reversal
Yet, this trajectory isn’t inevitable. To counter it, we must actively resist devolution. Education systems, especially PhD programs, need adaptation: implement rigorous vetting to ensure candidates demonstrate genuine skills without AI crutches. This could include AI-free exams, oral defenses emphasizing original thought, and projects requiring manual problem-solving. By fostering resilience and deep learning (the human one), we can preserve human excellence.
Looking further, the gap might one day reverse through even higher technology. Just as modern medicine compensates for physical decline—prosthetics restoring mobility or drugs enhancing longevity—neural chips could augment cognition, restoring lost knowledge and skills. Imagine implants that directly interface with the brain, providing instant expertise without the grind. This paradox of technology solving technology-induced problems offers hope, but it underscores the need for mindful adoption today. Ultimately, the choice is ours: evolve alongside AI or fade into its shadow.
To Cite This Article
@misc{SadouneBlog2024,
title = {Human Devolution and The Paradox of our Time},
author = {Igor Sadoune},
year = {2025},
url = {https://sadoune.me/posts/ai_vs_humans/}
}