Think Harder, Not Less: The ‘AI Makes You Dumber’ Myth
Hosts: Mark Smith, Meg Smith
AI augments, it doesn’t replace. The hosts show how to pair human judgment with practical workflows: Copilot’s Researcher to gather sources, branching chats to explore options, and Markdown for efficient prompting. They debunk “AI makes you dumber” headlines, emphasise critical thinking, and share personal use cases from learning to health. The message is simple: bring your seed idea, use AI to scale it, and validate claims beyond headlines.
Join the private WhatsApp group for Q&A and community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/E0iyXcUVhpl9um7DuKLYEz
What you’ll learn
Use Copilot Researcher to compile internal and external sources fast
When to branch a chat to explore alternatives without losing context
Why Markdown outperforms JSON for most prompting tasks
How to combine personal data and medical advice more intelligently
Tactics to spot sensational headlines and verify claims
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Growth
01:14 The Human-AI Collaboration
05:19 Challenging Misconceptions About AI
08:52 The Importance of Critical Thinking
12:49 Researching with AI Tools
17:33 AI in Education and Personal Development
19:38 AI in Healthcare and Personal Health Management
23:38 Looking Ahead: The Intelligence Age
Highlights
“it’s not about AI replacing us”
“bring the seed of our own human intellect”
“we need to have our bullshit radars on all the time”
“Calling Bullshit. And it’s the art of skepticism in a data-driven world.”
Mentioned
MIT study “Your Brain on Chat GPT” https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/your-brain-on-chatgpt/overview/
Microsoft Research Podcast https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/podcast/
Book: “Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World” https://callingbullshit.org/
Connect with the hosts
Mark Smith:
Blog: https://www.nz365guy.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nz365guy
Meg Smith:
Blog: https://www.megsmith.nz
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megsmithnz
Subscribe, rate, and share with someone who wants to be future ready. Drop your questions in the comments or the WhatsApp group, and we may feature them in an upcoming episode.
Keywords: ai augmentation, critical thinking, markdown, json, microsoft copilot, researcher, branching chats, mit study, calling bullshit, alphafold, whatsapp, intelligence age
Hosts: Mark Smith, Meg Smith
AI augments, it doesn’t replace. The hosts show how to pair human judgment with practical workflows: Copilot’s Researcher to gather sources, branching chats to explore options, and Markdown for efficient prompting. They debunk “AI makes you dumber” headlines, emphasise critical thinking, and share personal use cases from learning to health. The message is simple: bring your seed idea, use AI to scale it, and validate claims beyond headlines.
Join the private WhatsApp group for Q&A and community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/E0iyXcUVhpl9um7DuKLYEz
What you’ll learn
Use Copilot Researcher to compile internal and external sources fast
When to branch a chat to explore alternatives without losing context
Why Markdown outperforms JSON for most prompting tasks
How to combine personal data and medical advice more intelligently
Tactics to spot sensational headlines and verify claims
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Growth
01:14 The Human-AI Collaboration
05:19 Challenging Misconceptions About AI
08:52 The Importance of Critical Thinking
12:49 Researching with AI Tools
17:33 AI in Education and Personal Development
19:38 AI in Healthcare and Personal Health Management
23:38 Looking Ahead: The Intelligence Age
Highlights
“it’s not about AI replacing us”
“bring the seed of our own human intellect”
“we need to have our bullshit radars on all the time”
“Calling Bullshit. And it’s the art of skepticism in a data-driven world.”
Mentioned
MIT study “Your Brain on Chat GPT” https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/your-brain-on-chatgpt/overview/
Microsoft Research Podcast https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/podcast/
Book: “Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World” https://callingbullshit.org/
Connect with the hosts
Mark Smith:
Blog: https://www.nz365guy.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nz365guy
Meg Smith:
Blog: https://www.megsmith.nz
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megsmithnz
Subscribe, rate, and share with someone who wants to be future ready. Drop your questions in the comments or the WhatsApp group, and we may feature them in an upcoming episode.
Keywords: ai augmentation, critical thinking, markdown, json, microsoft copilot, researcher, branching chats, mit study, calling bullshit, alphafold, whatsapp, intelligence age
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