AI Can Amplify or Replace Critical Thinking, Researcher Says
Nicoleta Prutean, a cognitive neuroscientist from Moldova now working in Brussels, explains why regulating AI platform design matters more than banning services.
Illustration: AI-generated image
Artificial intelligence can either help people sharpen their critical thinking or quietly replace it, according to cognitive neuroscientist Nicoleta Prutean. In a recent interview with HotNews, the Moldovan-born researcher based in Brussels explained how the choice often depends on the design of the technology we use every day.
Prutean holds a PhD in cognitive neuroscience and works as a senior AI analyst at the Centre for Future Generations, an independent think tank in Brussels. Earlier this year, her organisation published a report titled “Governing AI for cognitive integrity,” which aims to give policymakers a scientific framework for assessing how social media and AI-driven systems affect mental health.
“With the help of AI you can amplify your critical thinking, or you can let technology replace your thinking,” Prutean told HotNews. She argues that the question is not whether people should use these tools, but how companies design them. Features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, notifications and conversational chatbots are not neutral; they are built around business incentives that encourage engagement, sometimes at the cost of users’ attention and wellbeing.
The researcher stressed that children are especially vulnerable to certain functions of social networks, not because the services are inherently bad, but because their brains are still developing. Instead of banning access, Prutean suggests focusing on platform design: “It is better to address the design of the platforms, not to prohibit access to services that can also be beneficial,” she said.
Drawing a comparison with electricity, Prutean believes AI should be regulated in a similar way—as a general-purpose technology that requires safety standards, rather than as a specific product to ban or allow. Her work highlights five fundamental human needs that, when externalised to AI, can become harmful, though the report leaves the details for policymakers to consider.
Prutean’s own journey reflects the European project: born in Moldova, she left at age eight, studied in Italy and Spain, and completed her doctorate in Belgium. Now she helps shape how Europe thinks about the next wave of technology.
