There seems to be an increased concern about how to think artificial intelligence (AI) will change our lives and possibly who we are psychologically and biologically. Some argue that it robs us of our humanity by encouraging passive consumption and overdependence on AI-generated information. Others believe that, like the Industrial Revolution, artificial intelligence will free us from many of the burdens that plague us. They argue that artificial intelligence has the potential to bring out the best in us—to make us more human. So is AI friend or foe? The answer seems to be, “It depends.”
The current state of AI
Currently, AI does not generate opinion or knowledge independently of the data it receives. Rather, it produces results by remembering different levels of information and recombining learned patterns or other forms of information in new ways. Even the so-called new results of artificial intelligence are based on previously obtained data, even if the specific product itself has never existed before. Think of it as what I used to call recombinant AI (Psychology today9 April 2026). A specific weakness of this approach is that AI does not have the ability to independently assess the validity of the information it receives and its recombinant output. As such, it may provide inaccurate or misleading information. So if you’re looking to AI for all the answers, be forewarned.
The risk of passive consumption
More problematic from a healthcare perspective than potential error, AI may encourage passive consumption of information. The risk of passive consumption associated with AI has not yet been identified. That said, there is concern that continued use and reliance on AI may inhibit critical thinking, create functional dependencies, and potentially contribute. depression and isolation, and even the possibility of unwanted changes in brain morphology. Such results were associated with excess social networks use (Montag & Becker, 2023; Shensa, et al., 2018), so concerns have been generalized to AI.
AI’s greatest potential?
Rather than relying on AI for answers, psychologically speaking, AI’s greatest potential may lie not in the answers it can provide, but in the questions it can ask. Through the use of questions, AI has the potential to encourage us to develop our critical thinking skills and encourage empathy and compassion. to gain perspectiveand providing more psychological and biological support endurance.
How does this work
To begin with, even in its current form, AI seems capable of using active listening techniques to foster a therapeutic alliance of communication (hearing), empathy (understanding), and cathartic ventilation (Malouin-Lachance, et al., 2025). Psychologist Carl Rogers argues that these elements are necessary and sufficient conditions for self-improvement and therapeutic change. The obvious effects may be to communicate one’s own value, optimismand even self-efficacy.
In addition to the therapeutic alliance, around 2,000 years ago in the Greek Golden Age, Socrates tried to encourage the pursuit of virtue. wisdom. As the greatest teacher of his time, he trained those who would become the most influential philosophers of his time. Paradoxically, he used difficult questions in his work, not answers pedagogy. Perhaps in line with the teachings of Confucius, Socrates believed that the highest form of wisdom comes from introspection and self-reflection. The difficulty of the questions can foster both self-reflection and introspection.
Fast forward to the modern age neurologywe see that questions, especially open-ended questions based on thinking, have their own power. Open-ended questions engage different neural networks in both hemispheres. More precisely, the analytical thinking of the left hemisphere is related to the integrated contextual understanding of the right hemisphere, which enhances cognitive flexibility, emotional regulation, creativity and resilience (Southwick & Charney, 2018). The most creative and resilient brains may be those with multiple and diversely integrated interhemispheric brain regions. The gateway to this wonderful symphony of creativity and resilience may lie in reflective questions. AI seems capable of being the conductor of this symphony.
So is AI friend or foe? Relying too much on AI to answer all our questions has the potential to open Pandora’s box. So, rather than asking AI for all the right answers, ask AI for the right questions. AI can help us get from where we are to where we want to be by building our confidence. Questions allow us to look outside of ourselves and dream, but more importantly, they allow us to look within and awaken abilities we didn’t know we had. AI can help us become what AI itself cannot. Maybe AI can help us become more ‘human’.
(c) George S. Everly Jr., PhD, 2026.
