I don’t believe that AI is making humans stupid. While this topic has sparked considerable debate in recent conversations I’ve had, I find myself disagreeing with the pessimism about artificial intelligence’s impact on human cognition.

The Argument “AI makes us lazy” Has Merit, But Misses the Bigger Picture

I can understand the argument that AI might make humans intellectually lazy by handling cognitive heavy lifting like writing code, drafting articles, or solving complex problems. There’s truth to the “use it or lose it” principle: skills deteriorate without practice. We’ve all experienced this after returning from vacation, finding ourselves slower to execute familiar work tasks and indeed mental artihmetic becomes harder if we use the calculator all the time. Critics also point to how social media and AI algorithms can create information silos, trapping us within our existing knowledge and beliefs rather than challenging us to grow. These concerns deserve acknowledgment, but they tell only part of the story.

Part of our work as an NGO is raising awareness of specific topics that would otherwise remain unknown to the broader public. One of these is the usage of draft animals to improve the productivity of farmers and how this contributes to eradicate poverty in rural Burkina Faso in the long run.

To support us on this mission, Marcel Scheidweiler, a member of our NGO, published an interesting essay on our NGO’s contribution to how donkeys were changed from mere pack donkeys to draft animals in Burkina Faso from 1959 onwards, beginning with the initiative of Antoine Mailliet, a young Luxembourgish farmer.\

The war in Ukraine is a tragedy that the world has not seen for many years. Millions of people have lost their homes, their futures, and sadly, many have also lost their lives. As often happens, it is the most vulnerable populations in the world who are the first to suffer the consequences of disasters, just like the rural population in Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso is one of the least developed countries in the world, with a large part of its population relying on subsistence farming. Therefore, the goal of NGO cooperation is to eradicate poverty and improve food security. To be able to eat three times a day throughout the year is still not a given for everyone in Burkina Faso. Through the 2018-2021 project in collaboration with FEPAB, the NGO was able to improve food security for 80,000 people in the target population, but it remains a very fragile balance that depends on climatic, geographical, and political factors.

It’s with some concern that I observe the situation in Burkina Faso, that started unfolding in January 2022. Jihadism has been spreading in Sub-Saharan Africa since 2015 and after 2020 the situation is even degrading faster.  The reasons are manyfold. Political instability as well as poverty and a lack of economic opportunities leaves, especially rural populations, vulnerable to recruitment by extremist groups, who offer a false sense of purpose and meaning. Weak government and state institutions make it easier for them to operate with little resistance.