Thinking Optional: Is AI Making Us Stupid AND More Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks?
Is AI Making Cybersecurity Analysts Less Effective?
In this episode of Compromising Positions, we're asking whether thinking is becoming optional. We've spent decades finding new ways to outsource the work our brains used to do. Convenient? Absolutely. But what happens when we get so used to letting technology do the thinking that we forget how to do it ourselves?
We explore the growing concerns around AI, cognitive offloading and critical thinking. When AI can structure an argument, write an essay or summarise a mountain of information in seconds, are we actually learning anything? Or are we just getting better at producing things we can't explain?
And this isn't just about whether your next university essay is secretly written by a chatbot. There are some serious cybersecurity implications.
Security Operations Centre (SOC) analysts are already dealing with alert fatigue, time pressure and burnout. AI promises to take some of that workload off their hands, but what happens when automation makes us less curious, less investigative and more inclined to rubber-stamp whatever the machine tells us?
We look at the irony of automation, the danger of humans losing the skills they need when things go wrong, and what happens when everyone relies on the same AI systems, complete with the same blind spots.
Because if attackers compromise the very systems we're relying on to detect them, who's left to challenge the machine?
In This Episode, We Discuss:
Thinking Optional: What cognitive offloading is, why we've always done it, and why generative AI might take things a step further.
Are We Getting Dumber? What research into AI-assisted writing, memory and attention suggests about the cost of outsourcing our thinking.
The Human Rubber Stamp: Why reviewing AI output isn't the same as understanding it, and how overconfidence in AI can undermine critical judgement.
The Cybersecurity Connection: What happens when SOC analysts use AI to manage alert overload, and why faster isn't always better.
The Irony of Automation: Why removing humans from routine tasks can leave them less prepared for the unusual, high-stakes situations where they're needed most.
Show Notes
Special thanks to our episode sponsor, Leeds based AI Consultancy specialising in AI Ethics, Security and Transformation NorthStar Intelligence- From Ideas to Impact. AI that works for people
Beware of Metacognitive Laziness: Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Learning Motivation, Processes, and Performance by Fan et al. (2024)
The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers by Lee et al. (2025)
Automation Bias and Complacency in Security Operation Centers by Jack Tilbury and Stephen Flowerday (2024)
Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task by Kosmyna et al. (2025)
Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips by Sparrow et al. (2011)
Cognitive Offloading by Evan Risko and Sam Gilbert (2016)
Also, check out our sister podcast Tech Film Noir!
