Trusted by leading universities
Your students already use AI to write, to research, to study. But a growing body of evidence suggests that overreliance on these tools can shortcut and impair learning itself. Memory, reasoning, critical thinking: the mental muscles that atrophy fastest are the ones students need most.
This presentation gives students a framework for deciding what to automate and what to defend. Grounded in cognitive science, it makes the case that some thinking is too important to outsource — and gives them the language to draw that line for themselves.
Schedule a Call“Tobias does an amazing job at making these issues understandable and actionable. I’m a huge fan of his work.”Tristan Harris
“I’ve learned so much from Tobias. He’s a master of intuition and metaphor.”Jonathan Haidt
“This talk fundamentally shifted my school’s perspective on AI. We are now far more prepared for what is coming.”Mattan Griffel
“Inviting Tobias to speak was one of the best decisions I’ve made for my students.”Rebeca Hwang
Right now, 92% of students use AI for coursework, and only 28% of faculty believe their university is ready to manage it. Employers are already seeing it: a generation of graduates who can produce anything and originate nothing. They draft before they think. They prompt before they read. They submit polished work built on a foundation they never laid. The habits your students are forming right now will shape their professional lives for decades. The job market your students are entering will be organized around one question: what can this person do that AI can’t?
This talk helps students to distinguish between the cognitive tasks worth automating and the cognitive tasks worth protecting. It provides the research, the reflection and the reminders to help keep critical thinking alive.
It opens with a live exercise. Students use AI to answer a question, then try to answer the same question without it. The gap between the two answers is where the talk begins: what happened to the thinking you used to do yourself?
From there, Tobias walks through three layers of cognitive outsourcing: how AI drafts our arguments before we've formed them, how it collapses the messy process of learning into frictionless output, and how the convenience of generated answers quietly replaces the effort that builds real understanding. Grounding each in published research and live demonstrations students feel in real time.
Neither a lecture about AI doom and gloom, nor a space to shame students using AI, this is a practical briefing for the first generation building careers, relationships, and worldviews alongside tools that can think faster than they can. Students leave with a framework for knowing when AI is helping them think, and when it's doing their thinking for them. Plus three specific actions they can take that week.
Tobias's research helped launch the movement to reform social media. He introduced Jonathan Haidt to the harms research and co-authored the Atlantic article that seeded The Anxious Generation, the book reshaping how universities think about student wellbeing and technology.
The Outrage Machine was named one of the year's most useful books by Inc. Magazine and was a PEN/Galbraith Award finalist. He has guest lectured at Stanford and spoken at NYU, Fordham, and other universities.
Think Unprompted is a research-driven education initiative preparing university students to think independently in the age of AI. We work with campuses to deliver keynotes, workshops, and faculty sessions that give students a practical framework for knowing what to hand off to machines, and what to keep human.
Founded on the premise that the most important skill of the next decade isn't using AI. It's knowing when not to.
Author of The Outrage Machine (Inc. Magazine's most useful book, PEN/Galbraith finalist). His research on algorithmic systems and attention helped launch the social media reform movement, influencing Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation and major platform interventions.
Host of Into the Machine, exploring how machine intelligence reshapes decision-making, with guests including Tristan Harris, Steven Pinker, and Esther Perel. Guest lecturer at Stanford. Speaker at NYU, Fordham, and universities across the country.
Most campus talks about technology are cautionary tales. This one is a practical briefing. Students don't leave feeling guilty about their AI usage. They leave with a framework for deciding what to give to AI and what to keep for themselves. The research is current, the demonstrations are live, and the takeaways are specific enough to use that week.
Yes. We offer dedicated sessions for both. The parent talk is designed for orientation and family weekends, especially for parents who read The Anxious Generation and want to know what comes next. The faculty version focuses on AI in the classroom and how to set norms that develop thinking rather than replace it.
The keynote scales well from 200 to 2,000+ students. It includes live polling and real-time demonstrations that work at any size. The workshop is more intimate: 20 to 60 students, and is best suited for student leaders, RAs, or honors cohorts.
Yes, though in-person is strongly recommended. The live demonstrations and screen-time exercises land differently when the audience is in the room. Virtual delivery is available for campuses where travel isn't feasible. The format is adapted to maintain interactivity over video.
Most campuses book 2–4 months in advance, though we've accommodated faster timelines. Fall semester dates tend to fill first. Submit an inquiry and we'll confirm availability.
The full day combines all three formats: a campus-wide keynote for the student body, an interactive workshop for student leaders, and a session for parents or faculty. It's the highest-impact option for a single visit and works especially well during orientation, welcome week, or academic conferences.
The full sizzle reel is in production. In the meantime, we're happy to share clips from recent engagements and connect you with references from past campus partners. Just ask when you submit your inquiry.
Other questions? Get in touch.
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