Updates 15 October 2025 - 9 November 2025

ENDEDLive coverage has endedEnded: March 23, 2026, 12:00 AM EDT AI cognitive offloading: adults atrophy, youths foreclose core skills March 22, 2026, 11:48 PM EDT. Over a year of reporting on **cognitive offloading**, the author argues **AI** reshapes thinking in age-specific ways. For a 45-year-old, using **AI** to summarize a paper is an **efficiency** gain on a task already learned; without **AI**, the ability remains, just slower. That's **atrophy**: weakened but recoverable. Citing Michael Gerlich, older participants show higher **critical thinking** with lower AI reliance, while 17-25 year-olds show the opposite. The likely explanation is biology: older adults offload tasks