AI Tools May Speed Work Now, but Researchers Warn of Skill Loss

New research is raising concern that growing reliance on artificial intelligence could cause professional “skill erosion.” A review of studies published in Nature says handing cognitive tasks to AI systems can improve performance in the short term, but may weaken people’s ability to work independently over time.

The concern is already reflected among professionals. A U.S. survey of health care workers found that 70% of nurses and 77% of doctors worry that greater dependence on AI systems will damage their professional skills.

One study, published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, found that doctors who used an AI system to detect precancerous lesions during colonoscopies later saw their detection rate drop by about 21% when they performed exams without the system’s help. Another study by Anthropic found that software engineers who used an AI assistant during a programming task scored an average of 50% on a follow-up comprehension test, compared with 67% for participants who did not use the tool.

The researchers say this is not an argument to stop using AI. Instead, they stress the need to balance the efficiency gains of these tools with preserving professional skills and independent thinking. They say “skill erosion” is likely to become a major research area in the coming years.