AI is changing the cognitive demands of the workday—not just how we do the work.

Organizations have invested in AI because it can help people work faster and produce better work.

But the quality of that work increasingly depends on the judgment of the people using it.

Employees have to decide what to hand off to AI, evaluate what comes back, catch what’s wrong or missing, apply context the AI doesn’t have, and decide what is actually good enough to use.

And current research suggests this is becoming more important as AI use increases—not less.

Microsoft’s 2026 Work Trend Index found that AI users rank quality control of AI output and critical thinking as the two human skills becoming most important as AI takes on more work. The most advanced AI users are also more deliberate about deciding what to delegate to AI and what they should continue doing themselves.¹

At the same time, research with knowledge workers has found that greater confidence in AI is associated with less critical-thinking effort.² Recent management research also raises a longer-term concern: repeatedly offloading problem-solving to AI under time pressure can reduce the active engagement and first-hand experience through which people develop judgment.³

The challenge now is not simply getting people to use AI. It’s helping them continue to think well while they use it.

That’s the focus of my JournalingFix work with teams.

I help people understand what AI is changing about the cognitive side of their work—and give them practical ways to stay engaged with their own attention, judgment and thinking while using it.

Through straightforward science, recognizable workplace situations and short structured-writing practices, participants learn how to pause and clarify what they’re actually trying to solve, decide what should and shouldn’t be delegated, evaluate AI output without getting buried in more information, reconnect with their own point of view, and recognize when it’s time to stop generating and make a decision.

Thinking Well While Working With AI

A practical, research-informed session for teams using AI as part of their everyday work.

60-minute interactive session
Available virtually or in person.

Sessions can also be expanded or customized around the ways your teams are currently using AI.

Bring JournalingFix to your team →

References

1. Microsoft. 2026 Work Trend Index Annual Report: Agents, Human Agency, and the Opportunity for Every Organization. Microsoft WorkLab, 2026.

2. Lee, H.-P. (Hank), et al. “The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers.” Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2025.

3. Lindebaum, D., Balasubramanian, N., Ashraf, M., & Haack, P. “A Process Model of Managerial Phronesis in the Age of Generative AI.” Academy of Management Review, 2026.