Cognitive Uploading: AI That Helps Us Think Better
18 August 2026
I came across an idea from Steven Johnson in a recent podcast (thanks Subramanian Krishnan for sharing) that feels especially relevant as we all form our own habits around using AI.
Most of the conversation today is around cognitive offloading: what are we asking AI to do for us, what thinking are we giving away, and whether using AI too much will eventually make us less capable.
Johnson, who is the creator of Google NotebookLM, offers a useful counterpoint:
“There’s cognitive offloading, but there’s also cognitive uploading.”
He describes cognitive uploading with a question:
“What is it that is easier to get into your mind to help you think or reason or make decisions in a more rigorous way that was not possible before AI?”
Perhaps the better measure of AI use is not simply how much work it saves us, but how much it helps us understand something we could not understand as easily before.
Can it explain a difficult concept in five different ways until one finally clicks?
Can it quiz us instead of giving us the answer?
Can it help us connect something we are reading today with an idea we encountered months ago?
Can it challenge an assumption, point us back to a source, or expose a gap in our reasoning?
Used that way, AI is not removing thinking from the process. It is helping put more into it.
Cognitive offloading asks:
“What can AI think for me?”
Cognitive uploading asks:
“What can AI help me understand better?”
The second question may turn out to be far more important.
