The Human Intelligence Trust

HUMAN FIRST

The mission of The Human Intelligence Trust is to protect and enhance human thinking in the age of AI.

August Macke, Lesende Frau — charcoal drawing of a woman reading

Is AI Making Us Stupid?

The explosion of popular chatbots is a crisis for human cognition. The Human Intelligence Trust was founded to meet this challenge.

Of course AI brings benefits: to science, medicine, technology, marketing and more. It also brings well-known hazards: misinformation, economic havoc, autonomous weapons, and environmental damage.

The threat to human cognition deserves more attention than it has received. This is not only obvious to common sense, it has already been established by several scientific studies*. Users are putting at risk their critical thinking, reasoning abilities and creativity.

Our Response

The Human Intelligence Trust seeks a constructive, project-oriented approach to the problem.

Fortunately we are not alone: many other individuals and organizations are recognizing the same problem. We look forward to contributing to their collective efforts.

Three Fields of Action

The Human Intelligence Trust will fulfill its mission in three ways:

  1. 1.EDUCATION

    There is a growing expanse of ideas, debates and new scientific studies relevant to the crisis in human cognition. We will curate and share the best of this material.

  2. 2.RESEARCH

    We will seek academic partnerships to conduct original research, beginning with a largely unexplored area: the potential for AI itself to enrich human thinking.

  3. 3.COMMUNITY

    Over time, we will build a community of “citizen thinkers” aligned with our mission to protect and enhance human intelligence. This concept is still taking shape and we welcome input.

Our First Initiative

We are currently preparing the launch of a Substack newsletter dedicated to the topic of human cognition in the context of AI.

The newsletter will summarize key insights and research. We will include new material currently surfacing and earlier work that seems worth attention. The newsletter will also include a modest injection of our own thoughts on the topic.

You Are Invited!

The Human Intelligence Trust was launched by a handful of concerned individuals. The task we have undertaken is much larger than us.

If you care about this issue, it's likely you can add more than we can imagine to the project's future development. We warmly welcome your participation, whether you're a concerned citizen, an educationalist, an AI professional, an academic researcher, or a circus acrobat.

Please contact us here, and we'll be in touch:

NOTE: Your privacy matters to us. We'll never sell your data. We may send you occasional emails, but you can always unsubscribe :)

*References

  1. Gerlich, Michael. “AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking.” Societies, vol. 15, no. 1, Jan. 2025, p. 6, https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15010006
  2. Fan, Yizhou, et al. “Beware of Metacognitive Laziness: Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Learning Motivation, Processes, and Performance.” British Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 56, no. 2, 2025, pp. 489–530, https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13544
  3. Dergaa, Ismail, et al. “From Tools to Threats: A Reflection on the Impact of Artificial-Intelligence Chatbots on Cognitive Health.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 15, Apr. 2024, p. 1259845, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1259845
  4. Jose, Binny, et al. Frontiers | The Cognitive Paradox of AI in Education: Between Enhancement and Erosion. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1550621. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.