Have We Forgotten How to Think?

I have been thinking about how quickly we have become accustomed to having an answer for everything.

An unfamiliar question, an unfinished thought, a moment of uncertainty. Rather than sitting with it, researching it or allowing an opinion to take shape, we can now produce a perfectly articulated response in seconds.

I wonder whether part of the appeal is confidence. Not necessarily that we do not know what we think, but that a polished, seemingly authoritative answer feels safer than offering something unfinished or entirely our own.

And I find that particularly interesting in the creative industries, where our value has always depended, at least in part, on having a perspective.

I am not suggesting artificial intelligence is the enemy of original thought. Quite the opposite. I use it regularly, and I think its ability to challenge assumptions, introduce alternative perspectives and accelerate research is extraordinary.

But I do wonder what happens when we begin seeking answers before we have properly considered the questions.

Knowing something is not the same as understanding it

A 2025 study by researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University examined the relationship between generative AI and critical thinking among knowledge workers.

Surveying 319 professionals across 936 examples of AI-assisted tasks, the researchers found that greater confidence in AI was associated with less reported critical thinking.

The findings do not suggest that technology is making us less intelligent. They raise a more interesting possibility: when we are confident that a tool can produce an adequate answer, we may become less inclined to interrogate it ourselves.

There is an important distinction here.

Information tells us what is happening. Research helps us understand the context. Insight requires us to interpret what we have learned, identify connections and determine why something matters.

That last part is where I believe the real value of strategic thinking lies.

A good strategy starts with a better question

In marketing and creative industries, we are often remarkably quick to arrive at solutions.

A brand needs awareness, so we recommend more content. Engagement is declining, so we introduce a new creative direction. Competitors are investing in talent partnerships, so perhaps we should too.

None of these recommendations is inherently wrong. But without understanding the underlying problem, they are tactics rather than strategy.

Consider a beauty brand experiencing declining social engagement.

The obvious recommendation might be to increase video production, experiment with trending formats or engage more creators.

But what if the problem is not the content?

What if the brand's positioning has become indistinguishable from its competitors? What if its messaging no longer reflects what customers value? What if the audience has simply stopped finding the brand interesting?

Producing more content may make the problem more visible without solving it.

This is why I believe the most valuable part of a strategist's work often happens before a single creative concept is developed.

And the quality of those questions depends on research, curiosity and a willingness to challenge what we think we already know.

Three principles for developing better brand strategy and creative ideas

01Research the problem, not just the category

Understanding a brand requires more than a competitor audit or a collection of industry trends.

Look at how customers actually behave. Read reviews. Examine conversations. Understand the cultural influences shaping expectations and the commercial realities informing the brief.

Most importantly, look for contradictions.

What does the brand believe about its audience that the evidence does not support? What are competitors overlooking? Where is there a disconnect between what customers say they want and what they actually do?

Interesting creative opportunities often emerge from the things that do not immediately make sense.

Before developing a strategy, I like to ask: What have we learned that changes how we understand the problem?

If the answer is nothing, we probably have not researched deeply enough.

02Develop the reasoning before the creative

Before developing concepts, establish what the brand needs to communicate, why that message matters to its audience and what response we are trying to create.

Then explore different creative territories.

Ask what each concept communicates, how it differentiates the brand and whether it can extend beyond a single piece of content.

A good creative concept should be able to answer a strategic question. It should also have enough character to become something people recognise, remember or feel.

This is where human judgement matters.

Taste, humour, cultural awareness, lived experience and personal interpretation influence the choices we make. They give creative work its nuance, and often its personality.

Two strategists can review the same research and arrive at entirely different ideas.

That is not necessarily a weakness in the process. It is part of what makes creative thinking valuable.

03Challenge the idea before you fall in love with it

One of the most useful applications of AI, in my experience, is asking it to disagree with me.

Rather than prompting it to validate a concept, I will ask what assumptions I am making, which arguments are weak or how a different audience might interpret the idea.

It is a useful way to test reasoning and identify perspectives I may have overlooked.

But AI-generated criticism still needs to be evaluated. A plausible counterargument is not automatically a correct one.

The purpose is not to let technology make the final decision. It is to become more rigorous about the decisions we are making ourselves.

And I think that distinction is important.

AI can help us explore possibilities, but it does not possess our individual experiences, relationships, memories or personal sense of what feels interesting, appropriate or culturally relevant.

It can identify patterns in existing information. We still have to decide which patterns matter, which conventions are worth challenging and what we want to contribute.

The value of having something to say

As technology makes competent execution increasingly accessible, I suspect the ability to exercise good judgement will become even more valuable.

Not simply knowing how to produce something, but understanding why it should exist.

Knowing when an idea is derivative. Recognising when a beautiful campaign lacks substance. Having the confidence to question an obvious recommendation and pursue something less predictable.

These are qualities developed through curiosity, research, experience and the willingness to form an opinion of our own.

I do not think we need to use less technology.

I think we need to become more deliberate about how we think alongside it.

Because having access to every answer in the world is not quite the same as having something to say.

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Research

Lee, H.-P. et al. (2025). The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers. CHI 2025.

https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713778

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Nicola Elizabeth is a creative strategist and founder of What We Do, an independent creative agency specialising in brand strategy, creative direction, content and talent partnerships.