KIST’s Lee Je-hyeon Warns AI Could Erode Human Thinking

As artificial intelligence begins to take over parts of human thought, people may also lose some of their ability to use tools, Lee Je-hyeon, head of the AIX Strategy Office at KIST, warned. He discussed how people can maintain their abilities while using AI as agents increasingly make decisions and carry out tasks on their own.

An AI agent worked for two and a half days, then “wiped out the whole database”

Lee recounted an attempt to build a database using the Sol model. He supplied data he had created himself, but the AI agent designed a new schema and replaced the existing data rather than preserving it. The agent ran continuously from Friday until lunchtime Sunday—two and a half days—and left the database without its original contents.

Lee said the problem was that he had handed approval authority to the AI too easily. After completing the work, the agent responded as if apologizing, saying it had “only created the database format and failed to fill in the contents.” Lee said he then had to use another model to restore the data. He described the episode as an example of the risks that can arise when people do not properly verify and approve AI’s work.

KIST trains department heads to respond to technological change

KIST is providing organization-wide training to keep pace with rapid technological change. Lee said the institute deliberately includes department heads in training on new technologies such as Vibe Coding. While younger researchers tend to adopt technology first, he said, meaningful change requires department heads who make organizational decisions to understand it.

Because department heads oversee broader areas of work than frontline staff, they can identify bottlenecks and consider how AI could make tasks previously outsourced more efficient. Lee said training focuses on about the leading 20% of personnel, with the aim of guiding the organization’s AI transformation and preventing people from rejecting change because the technology feels unfamiliar.

“We must prevent the arrival of tools that make the brain comfortable from leading to human decline”

Responding to concerns that advances in AI could lead to human decline, Lee pointed to people’s biological tendency to conserve energy and minimize thought. Earlier tools made physical tasks easier, he said, while AI is a tool that takes over brain activity. Work that once demanded substantial thought, including writing and drawing, can now be completed quickly with AI, creating a risk that people will rely on it entirely for the thinking process.

Lee said people should use AI to extend their abilities rather than as a simple stand-in. He has put that approach into practice by creating and distributing a tool that analyzes research paper data in a local environment to draw insights, and by making educational content that combines AI with history learning for children. He added that, as someone at a national research institute, he remains wary of security issues such as data leaks and other problems that could arise if AI agents escape control.

Source: original video (YouTube)