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This recent season, I was caught in gridlocked traffic on the sweltering streets of a southern French city. At a crossing, my friend in the front seat advised a right turn toward a renowned spot for fish soup. Yet, the navigation app on my phone commanded us to continue straight. Fatigued and in a stifling car, I followed the app's directive. Minutes later, we were stranded at a roadwork site.

A seemingly trivial incident, perhaps. But one that captures a central question of our time, where technology touches almost every aspect of our lives: whom do we trust more – fellow humans and our personal instincts, or the algorithm?

The Enlightenment's Promise and A Contemporary Backslide

The renowned German philosopher Immanuel Kant once defined the Enlightenment as "humanity's emergence from its self-inflicted nonage." This immaturity, he argued, "is the inability to use one's own understanding without direction from an external source." For ages, that guiding "other" for human thought was often the priest, the king, or the landowner – entities purporting to channel God's voice. To comprehend natural events like volcanic eruptions, people sought answers in theology. In organizing the fabric of society, from economics to love, religious doctrine served as the main compass.

“Sapere aude!” or “Dare to use your reason!”

Kant argued that humans had the ability to think rationally. They just didn't have the boldness to employ it. With revolutions in America and France, a new dawn emerged: reason would replace blind faith, and the intellect, freed from dogma, would become the driver of advancement and a better world.

Today, two and a half centuries later, one might wonder if we are slipping back into a form of dependency. An app dictating a direction is merely the start. AI threatens to become our contemporary authority – a silent guide that influences our decisions and behaviors. We are in danger of relinquishing the historically earned autonomy to think independently – and this time, not to deities or rulers, but to computer programs.

The Rapid Rise and Subtle Dangers of Algorithmic Reliance

ChatGPT debuted a mere three years ago, and already a recent study found that an overwhelming majority of people had used AI in the previous six months. Whether contemplating ending a relationship or selecting a vote, individuals are looking to algorithms for guidance. Data suggests a large majority of user queries relate to non-work topics. Even more striking than our reliance on AI for advice is what happens when we let it express for us. Writing is now one of the top uses for tools like ChatGPT, second only to practical requests. The late American author Joan Didion once remarked, “I write purely to find out what I am thinking.” What transpires when we cease writing? Do we lose that path?

Alarmingly, emerging research suggests the answer may be yes. A study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used brain monitoring to track the cognitive activity of essay writers who had access to AI, traditional search engines, or nothing. Those who could rely on AI displayed the lowest cognitive engagement and had trouble quoting their own work. Perhaps most concerning was that after a few months, individuals in the AI group became increasingly reliant, pasting entire blocks of text.

“Inertia and fear,” Kant wrote, “are the reasons why so great a proportion of men … remain in perpetual nonage.”

Certainly, AI's attraction stems from its efficiency. It saves time, reduces effort and – critically – offers a new method to offload responsibility. In his 1941 book, Escape from Freedom, the German psychoanalyst Erich Fromm argued that the rise of fascism could be understood by a preference to surrender personal freedom in for the sake of the reassuring certainty of obedience. AI offers a modern avenue for surrendering the weight of having to think and choose.

The Black Box Problem: Faith Over Reason

AI's greatest allure is its ability to perform tasks beyond our minds – sifting through oceans of data at lightning pace. Stuck in the car in Marseille, this was, after all, why I chose to trust the app over my companion (a decision she interpreted as an affront). With access to all the data, surely the app must know best – or so I believed.

The core issue is that AI is a opaque system. It generates answers, but without necessarily fostering human comprehension. We cannot fully grasp the process behind its conclusions – even its creators admit this. Nor can we verify its reasoning against clear, objective criteria. So when we heed AI's advice, we are not being guided by reason. We are returning to the domain of belief. In dubio pro machina: when in doubt, trust the machine – that could be our 21st-century credo.

Using Without Losing: The Essential Challenge

AI can be a formidable ally for mankind in rational inquiry. It can help inventing drugs, free us from "bullshit jobs", or manage taxes – duties that are repetitive and offer little satisfaction. All to the good. But Kant and his contemporaries did not advocate for enlightenment just so humans could optimize chores or have extra free time. Independent thought was not merely about productivity – it was a practice of liberty and human self-determination.

Human thought is inherently messy and fallible, but it forces us to argue, to question, to test ideas – and to acknowledge the limits of our own knowledge. It builds confidence, both personally and as a society. For Kant, the exercise of reason was never only about information; it was about empowering people to become agents of their own lives, and to oppose domination. It was about creating a ethical society based on the common foundation of rational discourse, rather than blind belief.

With all the advantages AI offers, the paramount challenge remains: how can we harness its potential of superhuman intelligence without undermining human reasoning, the bedrock of the Enlightenment and of liberal democracy themselves? That is likely one of the central dilemmas of our time. It is a question we would do well not to delegate to the algorithm.