06 September,2026 10:15 AM IST | Mumbai | Akshita Maheshwari
The questionnaire, designed by Koso AI, checks what you have been outsourcing to AI. PIC/ISTOCK
When was the last time you wrote an email without asking AI to make it sound better? Or came up with an idea yourself? More importantly, when was the last time something AI told you made you stop and ask: But how do you know that?
These are some of the questions behind a new questionnaire created by the team at Koso.ai, an AI company that builds custom operating systems and agents for businesses. The idea came when the team realised they were beginning to outsource even the simplest forms of thinking.
"We did this simple test amongst ourselves. Let's play this test in a morning meeting," says the founder, Aashish Pahwa, "Almost all of us failed."
The questionnaire, designed by the entire team at Koso AI together, checks what you have started outsourcing to AI. Its questions test whether you can recognise vague, polished writing, remember information after reading it once, question claims that sound authoritative, and generate ideas without getting AI to do the expanding for you.
Here are some excerpts from the test:
Which sentence is actually making a point?
a. AI is reshaping the way we work in an increasingly evolving world
b. AI cut the time employees spent writing emails by 25 per cent in one experiment
c. AI enables businesses to unlock new levels of productivity and innovation
Correct answer: Option B. A and C sound right, but they barely say anything. If you picked them, you're probably getting too used to AI-style writing that sounds smart without being specific.
Aashish Pahwa
2. Read this once. Don't go back:
Workers who trusted AI more reported less critical thinking. Workers who trusted their own ability reported doing more.
What was the actual finding?
a. Trusting AI more was linked to less critical thinking
b. Workers don't trust their own abilities anymore
c. Experienced workers stopped using AI
Correct answer: Option A. AI gives us so many instant summaries that we can get used to reading without really remembering.
3. Now finish this thought yourself:
AI makes people more productive, but⦠Come up with at least three different endings. They should be different, not the same variation of each other.
Correct answer: If you got three genuinely different ideas, you get one point.
If you struggled after the first one, that could be a sign that you're getting used to AI doing idea expansion for you.
The first question, for instance, asks you to pick the sentence that is actually making a point. Two options sound suitably corporate and intelligent, talking about AI "reshaping" work and "unlocking" productivity. The third simply tells you that AI cut the time employees spent writing emails by 25 per cent in one experiment. The point is to recognise specificity over polished language.
"That was the first test," the Pahwa explains. The team had noticed that AI "doesn't make points, it yaps", and that polished English can make us assume that something is correct.
Another question tests what happens when you read something once and move on. This is particularly important because they are building the very technology that can encourage the dependence they are warning about. "We have offloaded our critical thinking," Pahwa says, including the ability to ideate.
The team has therefore introduced its own workout version: Wednesdays are "Brain Gym" days, when the entire team goes without AI. Instead of getting a tool to research a topic, they do it themselves, following one question into another. They debate, brainstorm, and work through problems manually.
The irony is that Koso.ai is heavily automated. Pahwa describes a content operation where a swarm of AI agents can research topics, create outlines, write sections, check them, optimise them for SEO, and send them on for publishing. A content team that once had more than 12 people now has one person overseeing the process.
That is perhaps why the questionnaire is worth taking. It isn't asking whether AI is good or bad. It is asking a more uncomfortable question: which parts of your brain have you stopped exercising because AI can do them for you?
Head to instagram.com/okaashish/ to take the test yourself.
