Proof Engine Verification: Using AI tools makes humans worse at critical thinking and original problem-solving.

Automated fact-verification of the claim: "Using AI tools makes humans worse at critical thinking and original problem-solving." Verdict: PROVED Key Findings 4 independent sources from different institutions all confirm that AI tool usage is associated with diminished critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, exceeding the threshold of 3 required for proof. Gerlich (2025) found a strong negative correlation (r = -0.68) between AI tool usage frequency and critical thinking scores in a study of 666 participants, with cognitive offloading as the mediating mechanism (B1). Lee et al. (2025, Microsoft Research / CHI) found that higher confidence in AI is associated with less critical thinking effort among 319 knowledge workers (B2). A University of Pennsylvania study cited in the PMC literature found that ChatGPT users solved 48% more problems but scored 17% lower on concept understanding tests — showing AI boosts task completion while impairing deeper cognitive engagement (B4). Files proof.py — Re-runnable Python verification script proof.md — Structured proof report proof_audit.md — Full verification audit trail proof_narrative.md — Plain-language summary proof.json — Machine-readable structured data Generated by Proof Engine v1.2.0.