AI could make people dull, one scientist fears. Here's why.
AI could make people dull, one scientist fears. Here's why.
By Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting. Read Full Bio Megan CerulloJune 30, 2026 / 9:48 AM EDT / MoneyWatch
Add CBS News on GoogleArtificial intelligence could one day supercharge human cognition, leading to significant advances in science, technology and other fields. It could also make us dull, new academic research suggests.
That's because the so-called large language models that power AI apps often yield information that is predictable and normative for the population as a whole, reducing life's complexity to a bland mulch of watered-down ideas.
"LLMs predict the most likely next word in a sentence or event in a sequence, and by definition, that's average," Columbia Business School professor Sandra Matz, author of the study, told CBS News. "It tells you what the most likely thing to appear is if you ask it for a movie recommendation or what color to paint your wall. It homogenizes decisions, and we all get the same output."
To arrive at their findings, Matz and her study co-authors analyzed more than 110,000 real-world decisions made by 1,000 people and compared them to choices made by both generic and personalized AI agents. They also used data from a Facebook application called the myPersonality project, which conducted personality tests on users who shared their Facebook profiles for research purposes.
"AI hates risk"
For individuals, relying on AI to shape a decision — say, on where to go on vacation or what walking shoes to buy — steers people toward the most common choices and away from more distinctive, or even quirky, behaviors and preferences, according to Matz, a computational social scientist with a background in psychology and computer science.
In effect, AI narrows what users "explore across topics and psychological affinities," she wrote, adding that "LLMs play it safe within a user's preferences."
In other words, even if an AI agent knows its user occasionally makes an out-of-the-box or uncharacteristic decision about any given subject, like what to eat for dinner, "LLM agents nudge behavior toward more normative options and narrow the range of what individuals explore," Matz added.
"AI hates risk because we train it that way," Matz said. "It wants to keep you on the platform, so it shows you what you already like and not stuff on the outskirts of what you do."
AI apps don't have to operate this way, but it's how they're programmed to work, she added.
To prevent AI agents from diminishing the richness and diversity of human experience, Matz encourages tech developers to build in an "exploration mode" option for users who want more unexpected, less conventional recommendations.
That would help ensure "we prevent ourselves as individuals from becoming boring, and making sure culture doesn't collapse into a single set of preferences," Matz said.
"What I will never do is give up" – Kimmich rules out international retirement after Germany's World Cup exit
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Germany captain Joshua Kimmich is not considering retiring from international football after Monday's heartbreaking World Cup exit to Paraguay.
"I'll always have the determination to make another attempt. What I will never do is give up," Kimmich told MagentaTV after the match.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe 31-year-old, who was also part of the squads that crashed out in the group stage at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, converted his penalty in the shootout. However, it wasn't enough to prevent another disappointing tournament exit.
"I grew up in Germany watching the national team on television, and it always seemed to be the semifinals or the final. Of course, you want to give today's children, the people, and this generation that same experience. The fact is, we weren't able to give the people back home that," Kimmich said.
According to Kimmich, everyone in the team must take full responsibility for the latest failure.
“It's a real shame, especially at a time when it would do us so much good to have something in Germany we can be proud of. Unfortunately, the national team isn't that right now, and we all share responsibility for it,” he said.
"We have to take responsibility – no one can distance themselves from it. We have to own it, because we, the players who were on the pitch, are the ones who messed it up."
Taylor Swift won over Kelce's skeptical friend in backstage encounter
Taylor Swift won over another new fan in Travis Kelce's friend Taylor Lewan, days before the American power couple are expected to get married at New York's Madison Square Garden.
Swift joined Kelce last week for his annual 'Tight End University' - an event he helps plan for practice and networking with players who play in the position where the Kansas City Chiefs star made his name.
Swift has sprinkled some stardust over the last two events with a brief performance at the concert they host each year and this time, ex-NFL man turned podcast host Lewan got to witness Swift preparing to perform backstage.
Speaking on his popular Bussin' With The Boys podcast, Lewan explained: 'I'll just tell you this, dude - I was kind of into her music when I was younger. I haven't been super into it since then. It is just not my genre.
'The girl is incredible. What a performer. We are sitting backstage for a moment and she's about to go out. She's got a cluster, she's got a gaggle of individuals with her. But she's in the back before she walks out and you can see her just getting in the zone.
'I remember just looking at her being like "it is so cool that somebody who is as successful as she is, as famous as she is, she just handles her business the correct way at all times".
Taylor Swift stunned fans with a surprise performance at Travis Kelce's Tight End University
Swift joined Travis Kelce (left) alongside Claire Kittle, George Kittle, Greg Olsen and Talbot Olsen (L-R) at the opening event of Tight End University on Monday
Bussin' With The Boys host Taylor Lewan was impressed by Swift's performance last week
'And for her to sit back, get in the zone and go out and put on a performance, whether it was three minutes or five minutes, it was a very short amount of time, but the pop from the crowd... everybody in that moment felt like she was singing individually to them. And I thought that was just awesome.'
Swift joined Lainey Wilson on the stage to perform her hit 'Love Story' and dedicated it to Kelce's friend and rival tight end George Kittle, who plays for San Francisco 49ers.
'She probably misses ball!' Lewan joked about the lengthy NFL offseason. 'She misses ball a little bit, dude! But she was awesome. It was just really cool to watch people who are outliers in their craft perform.
'And I thought she is clearly that, the biggest superstar in the world. It is just awesome to see all that going down, all while our boy Trav is just bobbing around, stoked to kind of like be there.'
Swift and Kelce are expected to tie the knot this weekend in New York at the city's most iconic venue.
There were people in the industry who wondered if their plans to marry at MSG were a high-profile decoy but Daily Mail earlier this week shared pictures of equipment getting loaded into the venue, seemingly in preparation for the big day.
It remains to be seen if Lewan is going. He has known Kelce for around 10 years but the guestlist has been kept quiet and those attending have been sworn to secrecy.
And if, as Lewan suggested, Swift is missing football then she doesn't have too much longer to wait.
Kelce's Chiefs team start the season with a Monday Night Football showdown against AFC West rivals Denver Broncos on September 14 at Arrowhead Stadium.
Police chief reveals why Russini avoided ticket for driving on phone
A New Jersey police chief has explained why Dianna Russini did not get a ticket for using her phone while driving after new toe-curling footage showed her name-dropping an NFL coach to avoid punishment.
In the bodycam video, Russini - who stepped down from her job at The Athletic earlier this year after being accused of having an affair with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel - is seen being pulled over by an officer on a snowy day.
After explaining that she was breaking the news that Sean McDermott had been fired by the Buffalo Bills, the sports reporter said she was also on the phone to former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll before asking the officer if he's a fan of the Giants or Jets.
When he told her he is a Vikings fan instead, she showed what looked like a text exchange with Minnesota's head coach, Kevin O'Connell.
The officer returned to Russini's vehicle after checking her documentation before saying: 'I'm gonna cut you a break on the cellphone. I understand your job requires you to be on the phone a lot. Just try to wait 'til you get home, OK?'
In light of the new footage, Chief Forest Ross Lyons of the Ridgewood, New Jersey, Police Department revealed that his officer 'exercised his professional discretion' by issuing Russini a warning rather than a ticket.
A New Jersey police chief has explained why Dianna Russini did not get a ticket for using her phone while driving
Russini left her job as an NFL reporter this year over intimate pictures of her and Mike Vrabel
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'On January 19, 2026, at 9:40 am, a Ridgewood police officer conducted a motor vehicle stop on Godwin Avenue involving Ms. Dianna Russini for the use of a handheld cell phone while driving,' Lyons said in a statement, via NBC Sports.
'After following department protocol during the stop, and reviewing Ms. Russini’s driving history, the officer exercised his professional discretion and issued a verbal warning to Ms. Russini.
'The use of officer discretion in determining whether to issue a warning or a citation is consistent with Ridgewood Police Department policy and longstanding practice. Police officers are encouraged to use their judgment and, when appropriate, provide motorists with warnings as part of the Department’s commitment to fair, impartial and community-oriented policing.'
Back in February, Russini revealed on 'Stugotz and Company' that she was pulled over by police weeks before for texting while driving with her two young sons in the car.
She claimed she told the officer she was using her phone because the Bills had just fired head coach McDermott and she was trying to report the news.
However, she also alleged that she managed to prevent a ticket by getting the head coach of the officer's favorite team to speak with him on FaceTime, which the footage does not appear to show.
It is another desperately embarrassing episode for the former NFL insider, whose world was turned upside down by her affair scandal with Vrabel.
An investigation into Russini and Vrabel's alleged relationship was published by the New York Times on June 24.
Footage shows Russini avoiding a ticket after appearing to show an officer - who was a Vikings fan - a text message exchange with Minnesota head coach Kevin O'Connell (pictured)
The sports reporter claimed earlier this year that she got O'Connell to speak with the officer
Not only did it detail how she was paid close to $800,000-a-year by the New York Times-owned Athletic before her career collapsed, but it also included comments from her that she wanted to remain private.
However, it also told the story of how bosses at The Athletic were unhappy with her for sharing the story of her allegedly using her relationship with O'Connell to get out of a driving ticket.
'So he names the team [that he is a fan of] and I go, "Oh, I love that team. Do you want to talk to the coach? You should talk to the coach",' Russini claimed on the podcast.
She said she immediately FaceTimed the coach, who 'played all into it' and told the officer 'you should let her go, she’s a good citizen.'
Russini admitted she was 'desperate' in the moment because 'I don’t want to get a ticket. My husband is going to kill me.'
She continued: 'I’m texting and driving. I shouldn’t be doing that I know that… I [called] a coach to get out of a ticket. Like what a nasty play but it worked.'
Danielle Rhoades Ha, a Times Company spokeswoman, called it 'unacceptable conduct', while it later emerged that Russini also never asked or received permission to go on that podcast, which was required.
Russini left her job at The Athletic, where she was one of the highest-paid journalists, just days after bombshell pictures emerged in early April of her appearing intimate with Vrabel at an adults-only resort in Arizona . Both are married with children.
