The human mind is highly adaptable. Through practice, it may be trained to accomplish complex tasks with minimal conscious effort. It is also capable of using tools to externalize many functions. This generally results in an increased output at the expense of dependence. Examples of this pattern include calendars, calculators, and day-journals.
In all the prior examples, the externalism is active. One is conscious of the tradeoff. However, there are also passive forms of externalism. These may include relying on a mentor’s experience, immersing oneself in an enviroment that influences ones behavior, or using search engines to query the web. In these cases, there is rarely a conscious appreciation of the mental work being externalized.
It appears that the rise of AI as a consumable is bringing about a passive externalizing of cognition. Its vast potential for immediate solutions makes it by far the path of least resistance for cognitive load. Thus, human conversations with LLMs will exhibit a continuous trend towards a greater percentage of the overall cognitive load being handled by the AI. It seems likely that this will have a comparable effect on cognition to the effect of search engines on memory.