By Faizul Hadi Bin Shaul Hameed
Artificial intelligence is often celebrated as the pinnacle of human progress. It promises efficiency, creativity, and convenience. Yet beneath the glossy marketing lies a harsher truth where AI is increasingly a tool for billionaires to harvest our cognitive abilities, turning human thought into a commodity like a utility they control.
What appears to be empowerment is often exploitation. Every time we rely on AI to generate ideas, write essays, or solve problems, we surrender fragments of our thinking. These fragments are aggregated, monetized, and sold back to us as “innovation”. The consumer is not empowered but abused, trapped in a cycle where dependence fuels profit.
Think back to the days of sitting for major exams. Students once wrote full essays using only their own minds. Today, many ask AI for ideas before they even begin. The more we outsource thinking, the less we practice it ourselves. AI becomes not a helper, but a crutch. Dependency grows, and with it, our ability to think independently shrinks.
I was reminded of this reality during one of my classes. Normally, I allow students to use their gadgets to complete in-class activities, but on one day I insisted they put everything aside and rely solely on their own minds. The task I gave them was simple, yet many struggled to finish it within the time limit. Several admitted afterward that without their devices, even basic problem-solving felt unusually difficult. That moment revealed to me how quickly dependence on technology can erode the resilience of our thinking, even in situations where the challenge itself is not complex.
However, this isn’t a call to abandon AI entirely. In a modern era defined by technological advancement, we must keep pace. The key is to be thoughtful in how we use it. Let AI be a tool in our arsenal, not the sole engine of our creativity and problem-solving. By maintaining a balance, we ensure that our own cognitive abilities remain strong and resilient.
Billionaires envision a future where intelligence is treated like a power source, one that we must purchase because we can no longer generate it ourselves. Studies already warn that over-reliance on AI may lead to cognitive decline. When machines do the heavy lifting, our brains lose resilience. The more we depend on AI, the more our natural ability to think for ourselves erodes.
This decline is not accidental; it is profitable. Every query, every outsourced essay is another transaction in a marketplace of thought. What we lose in independence, billionaires gain in revenue.
In the end, AI is not just a neutral tool. It is a system designed to reshape intelligence into a commodity. I’m not saying we must reject it. But we do need to be smart and intentional. Let’s ensure that we remain creators of thought rather than mere consumers of it.
The author is a Language Lecturer at the Centre of Foundation Studies, Universiti Malaya (PASUM), and can be reached at faizulhadi93@um.edu.my
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