A study published in the journal *Frontiers in Psychology* examined how generative AI use affects thinking, distinguishing between two offloading styles among 589 college students and young professionals. Dependent offloading involves users outsourcing cognitive functions to AI and accepting its decisions as true without analysis, leading to weaker perceived cognitive outcomes. Autonomous offloading treats AI as a scaffold, where people use AI output to create their own insight and analyze content, which is associated with higher intrinsic motivation and stronger perceived outcomes including greater confidence, creativity, deeper thinking, and independent judgment. The researchers found that the effect of AI depends not on how much it is used, but on how users choose to engage.