Is Relying on AI Cognitive “Offloading” or “Outsourcing”?

Summary

Outlines illustrate a distinction between external memory support and delegating the thinking itself.

Wexler contrasts writing one’s own outline to ease working-memory demands with asking AI to decide the structure. She acknowledges that the literature often uses offloading and outsourcing interchangeably.

Her proposed distinction redirects attention to explicit writing instruction: students need ways to organize ideas themselves, rather than treating a smoother finished product as the educational goal.