Under near constant exposure to AI output, experts say the dangers are real and the evidence is already showing up.
A never-ending flood of content generated by artificial intelligence is reshaping the internet and the way people engage with information faster than ever.
From news summaries to social media posts to academic research, the sheer volume of machine-assisted materials has been correlated with a spike in “cognitive offloading”—a phenomenon in which people outsource critical thinking and verification to automated systems.
A 2025 analysis of how AI tools affect cognitive offloading showed a “significant negative correlation” between frequent use of AI tools and the ability to think critically in people across age groups and educational backgrounds. The researchers at the SBS Swiss Business School found that younger age groups exhibited a higher amount of dependence on AI models and lower critical thinking scores.
What’s more troubling is a Pangram/YouGov study in May that found only 55 percent of participants, all of whom were Gen Zers (aged 18 to 28), were able to identify fake or misleading AI-generated material. That number is lower in older age groups, which means half or fewer of adults over the age of 28 were confident in their ability to spot AI content online.
“AI-generated posts and comments can distort public perception, especially when volume is mistaken for credibility,” Javi Pérez, an editor of AI-assisted consumer education websites, told The Epoch Times.
“If a user sees dozens of similar posts about a product, trend, political claim, health issue, or financial topic, they may assume there is broad agreement.”
‘Confident Sameness’
Pérez said consumers need to beware as AI content increases the volume of what he called “confident sameness” online.
“Many articles and posts now repeat similar structures, similar advice, and similar phrasing. For casual readers, this can create the impression that a topic has more consensus or certainty than it really does, because they keep seeing the same ideas repeated across many sources,” Pérez said.
“The risk is that people stop knowing which content has been checked. In fields like finance, health, law, education, or news, readers need to know whether claims were reviewed against primary sources, updated recently, and edited by someone accountable.”
AI strategy consultant Armand Cucciniello III told The Epoch Times that AI-generated content is changing not only how we consume information, but also how quickly we process and trust it.
“We’re moving from deliberate reading toward rapid skimming of polished summaries, commentary, short-form videos, and AI-assisted content designed for speed and engagement,” he said.
As someone who has worked in the “U.S. national security landscape,” Cucciniello said one of his biggest concerns is that AI systems “can unintentionally amplify large volumes of inaccurate or deliberately manipulated content simply through repetition and scale.”
He also believes the high volume of AI-generated content is creating real pressure on public trust.
“When readers encounter nearly identical phrasing or interpretations across multiple sources, it’s natural to question whether the information was independently reported or simply repackaged,” he said.
