bahrainthismonth.com | NOVEMBER 2026 ASSURE ARTICLE 112 Losing My Words When AI made speechwriting effortless, Arun Balu Pazhayannur, CEO of Assure Consulting, found that writing without it had become harder. He explores overreliance and the technology’s potential to strengthen his thinking. I used to write my own speeches. Years of practice taught me to shape an argument and organise my thoughts. Then AI made drafting so effortless that I gradually stopped doing it myself. Months later, I tried writing a speech without AI and struggled. My sense of structure and flow had weakened because I no longer exercised it. I teach part-time and recently saw the same problem in a student’s polished, well-structured test response, clearly generated by AI. When I asked him to explain specific points, he could not. He had submitted work he did not understand, apparently unaware how obvious that was. A Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon University survey of 319 knowledge workers linked greater confidence in AI with less selfreported critical-thinking effort. An MIT Media Lab study examined how AI-assisted essay writing affected participants’ thinking and engagement. Participants writing with ChatGPT showed lower brain connectivity, measured using electroencephalography (EEG), and had more difficulty recalling passages from their essays than those writing without tools. The authors called the potential cost “cognitive debt”. These findings raise questions about overreliance on AI and the potential long-term costs to our cognitive abilities. Low-quality AI-generated content produced at scale is often called “slop”, Merriam-Webster’s 2025 Word of the Year. We see it across the market: reports, proposals and articles created for output rather than insight, often without understanding of the subject. Someone close to me works at a leading AI company. He believes no one can claim to fully understand AI because it is evolving so rapidly that even industry insiders are still learning how it works. The best way to learn about AI is to use it. Watch a few introductory videos, understand the basics from official AI developers’ websites and then experiment rather than spending too much time watching videos or attending formal training courses. Look for inspiration in everyday problems, try building something, make mistakes and learn along the way. The ability to experiment and adapt may be more valuable than mastering any particular tool. After my speechwriting experience, I began using AI as a speech coach. I develop my own ideas and structure, while AI helps me identify weaknesses in the flow, challenge my arguments and suggest improvements. It provides continuous feedback and mentorship I previously struggled to find. I still do the thinking and writing, but I have a coach available whenever I need one. That is why I think of AI as “augmented intelligence” rather than “artificial intelligence”. The framing matters. When AI augments your abilities, it helps you analyse deeply, learn efficiently and test your assumptions. When it becomes a replacement, you risk losing the habit of practising those skills without even realising it. Use AI every day, but use it to strengthen your abilities, not to avoid exercising them yourself. [email protected]
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