Protect Your Brain In The Era of AI

Will your brain be adversely affected by the advent of AI?

Yes – if you do not take remedial steps.

The field of artificial intelligence (AI) has made spectacular progress in recent times. It has revolutionised the way we think, work, and interact. AI is fast becoming an integral part of our daily lives. While the benefits of AI are undeniable, there are real concerns about its impact on our brains.

In this article, you will discover how your brain is getting affected by the advance of artificial intelligence. You will also learn 20 remedial steps you can take to remain sane, stay safe, and thrive.

Your Brain’s Plasticity

Your brain has remarkable plasticity. It has the ability to reorganise itself in response to new experiences, creating new neural pathways and modifying existing ones. This process, known as neuroplasticity, allows your brain to adapt to changes in your environment and learn new skills. AI is one such change that is affecting your brain. AI will change the way you think and process information. The good news is that your brain has an unlimited potential to learn and adapt to changes and shocks.

The good news is that your brain has an unlimited potential to learn and adapt to changes and shocks.

Just like we witnessed calculators replacing mental arithmetic and the need to remember multiplication tables, for years, we have been relying on search engines to find the information we need. This reduced the need to go to the library or talk to an expert. However, this has led to concerns that our memory and brain power is deteriorating as we rely more on external sources for information.

Before we look at the comprehensive remedial steps, it’s important to be aware of other areas of impact.

The Impact of AI on Attention Span

Tech has already been affecting our attention span. AI will accelerate this. The constant bombardment of new information from various sources has made it difficult for us to focus on a single task for an extended time period. Our attention span has become shorter and we tend to multitask to catch up. This affects productivity, as multitasking has been shown to reduce efficiency and increase the likelihood of errors and frustration. The only exception I have seen for this is in the area of creative thinking, where boredom, distraction, and passive dabbling in multiple things seem to generate more creative ideas.

Most importantly, AI-powered social media platforms will be churning out eye-popping and thumb-stopping content faster which will make it easier for us to get distracted. Novelty, creativity, gamification, and hyper-contextualised notifications are designed to grab our attention and keep us engaged. This steals your time and saps your energy even without your conscious awareness. While this is amazingly beneficial for content creators and marketers, it might be detrimental to your ability to concentrate and focus.

The Impact of AI on Creativity

AI is also affecting our creativity in unexpected ways. AI-powered tools can already create high-quality music, art, and literature that is indistinguishable from those created by humans. AI-enablement of creative pursuits has led some to question the value of human creativity in the age of AI. However, creativity involves more than just generating a product; it involves the process of imagination, exploration, experimentation, and expression. These are uniquely human experiences that cannot yet be replicated by AI. However, it is important to note that AI-powered tools are only creating outputs that are similar to what has been created by humans, it cannot yet replicate the entire spectrum of human experience and imagination involved in creating art.

The Impact of AI on Social Interaction

AI will continue to affect the need and nature of our social interactions. Over the past 100 years, various new inventions and equipments has already revolutionised the way we interact with each other. While these platforms have made it easier to connect with people, they have also led to a decrease in face-to-face interaction and human-to-human connection, which most brains are wired to crave. This can affect you, as face-to-face interaction is essential for developing social skills, emotional intelligence, and generating feelings of belonging. Human-to-human conversations are largely replaced by human-to-machine and machine-to-machine interactions. The undeniable fact is that most people interact more with machines than humans, animals, or nature — these are apparently the things we are biologically wired to interact with. It’s important to remember that only one person is in charge of your brain.

Human-to-human conversations are largely replaced by human-to-machine and machine-to-machine interactions. The undeniable fact is that most people interact more with machines than humans.

The Impact of AI on Decision Making

AI has a dramatic impact on our decision-making faculties. AI-powered decision-making tools can analyze unbelievable amounts of data and provide precise, concise, and instantaneous recommendations.

The Impact of AI on The Ego

As per Ray Kurzweil, by 2045, our intelligence would have multiplied by a factor of 1,000,000. When everyone has equal access to information and information progressing, it’s going to be hard to impress others with your ‘high IQ’ and unique analytical skills. Hopefully, humility will be back in vogue.

What’s the point of having your brain when the thinking, doing, and deciding are done by machines? More importantly, how can you remain sane, stay safe and thrive?

What’s the point of having your brain when the thinking, doing, and deciding are done by machines? More importantly how can you remain sane, stay safe and thrive?

21 Proven Strategies for Safeguarding Your Brain In The Era of AI

While the impact of AI on the human brain is a complex and controversial issue, there are practical remedial steps that you can take to mitigate its adverse impact on your brain, health, and well-being:

1. Engage in creative activities: Activities such as writing, drawing, painting, playing music, solving puzzles, or engaging in other artistic pursuits can help to strengthen your creative faculties. This can help keep your brain sharp in the age of AI. Creative activities such as painting, drawing, and writing can help keep your mind sharp.
2. Take Breaks from Tech: Taking a tech break and setting limits to tech exposure, can help to reduce the negative impact of AI on your brain and mental health. Schedule regular breaks throughout the day to give your mind a chance to rest and recharge. Take a walk, read a book, or spend time with friends and family to help you unwind and relax.
3. Develop critical thinking skills: This help is not only exercising your brain but also for evaluating the information you receive from automated tools and platforms.
4. Stay calm and practice meditation: Regular meditation can help improve attention span and focus, and reduce stress and anxiety. This will help you to boost brain power, overall health, and well-being.
5. Embrace Lifelong Learning: Staying informed and educated about the latest developments in AI can help you understand its impact on your brain and take steps to mitigate its negative effects. Learning a new skill can help to stimulate your brain and promote better mental health. Try taking a class or learning a new hobby. Attend seminars and workshops, read books, and engage in discussions. Stay in play. Every change and challenge brings with it new opportunities which can only be seized by those who stay ready to seize them.
6. Prioritize Sleep: Getting enough sleep is crucial for your brain and your overall health. Aim for optimal hours of sleep each night by reducing blue light exposure and late-night mental stimulation. Blue light emitted by digital screens can disrupt your circadian rhythms and affect your sleep. Having a well-designed night routine is essential in this regard.
7. Opt for Connection and Company: Connect with like-minded others and those who can uplift you. Social connections are crucial for our mental health and well-being. Make time for in-person interactions with friends and family. In the era of AI, this is no longer optional.
8. Practice Gratitude: No matter how bad your day is, there is always something you can be grateful for. Every moment, there is someone out there who will be happy to trade places with you. Start and end your days by going through the things you need to be grateful for.
9. Practice Pranayama and Deep Breathing: I have found yoga techniques like Surya-namaskar and Pranayama to be vital activities that bring rhythm to the body and calmness to life. Likewise, deep-breathing exercises can help to reduce stress and promote relaxation.
10. Practice Self-Care: Practicing self-care activities like taking a bath, reading a book, listening to uplifting music, watching funny movies, spending time with helpful friends, or getting a massage can help in this regard.
11. Eat Right: Eating a healthy and balanced diet can help to improve your brain and overall health. Taking your time to eat slowly and mindfully, paying attention to the taste and texture of the food you eat, helps in eating right.
12. Engage in Physical Activity: Regular exercise can help to reduce stress, improve your mood, and promote better sleep. Strive to incorporate adequate physical activity into your daily routine based on your age, fitness level, and medical advice.
13. Spend Time in Nature: Take a walk in the park, go for a hike, try gardening, and do outdoor activities you love. Spending time in nature every day will help you feel more relaxed and grounded.
14. Stop Compulsive Behaviours: Compulsive behaviours, substance abuse, and over-consumption are often results of stress arising out of unmet expectations, unresolved setbacks, and unprocessed emotions. Such behaviours are easy to get into and hard to get out of. As Jim Rohn would say “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you can live.”
15. Seek Professional Help: Today, taking help is no longer taboo. It has become essential to cope with the challenges that slow you down. Realising you can’t do it all alone, is the first step to positive change. Be open to therapy, coaching, counseling, or any other professional interventions that can help you to develop coping strategies, learn time-saving techniques and improve your well-being.
16. Volunteer: Volunteering can help to improve your mental health and well-being by promoting a sense of purpose, direction, and connection. Look for local volunteer opportunities in your community or reach out to organisations that can utilise your spare time productively.
17. Make journaling a habit: This is something I have been recommending to my clients of late, and it has been producing extraordinary results. Journalling will allow you to slow down, reflect, make new neural connections, process your emotions, and help you to think better when needed. If you like to get some journaling prompts to get started, just comment below and I will be happy to share it with you.
18. Spend Time with Animals: Did you know that during the covid pandemic and lockdown, pet sales skyrocketed? That’s because spending time with animals helps in reducing stress, and promotes better mental health. Consider adopting a pet or volunteering at a local animal shelter. If you can’t find an animal, remember man is also an animal :-)
19. Monitor Your Self-Talk: It might be interesting to notice what you say when you talk to yourself. We have a negativity bias that tries to keep us down. This arises out of our desires, fears, and doubts. Improving your self-talk will help to improve your self-esteem and well-being. I do not know whether positive thinking works, but it is better than negative thinking :-).
20. Upgrade Your Belief System: Always remember your brain is wired to adapt and bounce back no matter what, as long as you are alive and kicking. Stay alive, be active, and feel young. It’s too early to kick the bucket. The party is just starting.
21. Have a Mentor: You do not have to waste your time in trial and error or in reinventing the wheel, if you surround yourself with good mentors who can provide you with material, informational and emotional support. Mentors are priceless as they help you to shorten your learning curve and help you to bounce back faster from setbacks.

Next Steps:

1. Accept that AI has become an integral part of our daily lives, influencing the way we think, work and interact. Take remedial action steps that you resonate with to mitigate the adverse effects of AI and maximise its benefits.
2. Stay informed about the evolution of AI and adapt to the changes in a way that is beneficial for your brain and well-being.
3. Delegate the drudgery to AI and embrace a world of new possibilities.
4. Set limits for your doubts and fears about future shocks. Remove all limits you might have unconsciously set to your patience, imagination, creativity, exploration, experimentation, and expression — things that make you uniquely human.
5. The world is changing and you still have a positive role to play. Stay mentally sharp and relevant. More than ever, it’s important to think better, speak better, and lead better.