Why Delegating Your Hardest Thinking to AI Could Make You Weaker

Artificial intelligence dominated much of Steven Bartlett's conversation with entrepreneur Alex Hormozi, but one particular exchange stood out from the rest. Rather than discussing how AI can make businesses faster or more efficient, the conversation turned to an uncomfortable question.

Could artificial intelligence make us intellectually weaker?

Hormozi believes the answer is yes, if we begin using AI as a substitute for thinking rather than as a tool to support it.

His concern wasn't about the technology itself. In fact, he described himself as a strong advocate for AI and encouraged businesses to embrace it where it creates genuine value. His warning was aimed at something else entirely: the growing temptation to hand over our most important decisions to machines simply because they can produce answers in seconds.

According to Hormozi, this is where many people are getting AI wrong.

Thinking Is a Skill That Needs Exercise

During the discussion, Hormozi compared thinking to any other skill. The more you rely on someone else to do it for you, the weaker you become.

He argued that the hardest thinking should remain your responsibility. Strategic decisions, difficult judgement calls and complex problem solving are precisely the activities that sharpen your mind. If AI begins handling those tasks every day, you may save time in the short term, but you also risk losing the very capability that makes you valuable.

As he put it, "This is the best asset I've got for now, so I want to keep it as sharp as I can."

It is a remarkably simple observation, but one that becomes increasingly relevant as AI tools become more capable.

AI Can Agree With Almost Anything

Another point Hormozi raised was the danger of treating AI as an authority.

He explained that when faced with an important business decision, he often asks the same question to multiple AI models. Rather than receiving one definitive answer, he frequently finds that each model recommends something different.

Sometimes those answers even contradict one another.

The lesson, he argues, is that AI has not eliminated the need for judgement. It has simply made judgement more important.

Somebody still has to decide which recommendation makes the most sense.

The Difference Between Assistance and Dependence

One of the most valuable takeaways from the conversation is the distinction between using AI as an assistant and becoming dependent on it.

Hormozi is clearly not suggesting that people avoid AI. Quite the opposite.

He believes AI is an extraordinary productivity tool when used to automate repetitive work, accelerate research or remove unnecessary administration. Where he becomes more cautious is when people begin asking AI to make decisions they should be making themselves.

There is a significant difference between asking AI to provide information and asking it to decide your strategy.

The first expands your capabilities.

The second risks replacing them.

Why This Matters Beyond Business

Although the discussion centred largely on entrepreneurship, the implications extend much further.

Students increasingly use AI to complete assignments.

Professionals ask it to write reports.

Creatives generate ideas with a prompt.

Managers seek advice before making decisions.

Each individual use case appears harmless in isolation, but collectively they raise an interesting question.

If AI consistently performs our hardest thinking, what happens to our ability to think independently over the next ten or twenty years?

Nobody yet knows the answer.

What Hormozi offers is not a prediction, but a useful principle.

Use AI aggressively.

Learn from it.

Challenge it.

Explore ideas with it.

Just don't allow it to replace the difficult thinking that develops your own judgement.

Final Thoughts

There were plenty of discussions during this interview about AI, entrepreneurship and the future of work, but this particular exchange felt especially relevant because it shifts the conversation away from what AI can do and towards what we should continue doing ourselves.

As AI becomes an increasingly powerful part of everyday life, perhaps the greatest skill we can preserve isn't our ability to use artificial intelligence.

It's our willingness to keep thinking for ourselves.