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arXiv · 2605.23177

Cognitive offloading and the speedup illusion in human-AI interaction

Sunny Yu·Myra Cheng·Ahmad Jabbar·Ilia Sucholutsky·Katherine M. Collins·Dan Jurafsky·Robert D. Hawkins
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Abstract

Large language models (LLMs) have the potential to boost human productivity by speeding up task completion -- provided users know when to offload cognitive work to them. But we do not know if users are well-calibrated in estimating these potential time savings. We conducted a preregistered large-scale behavioral study (N = 1237) to characterize mismatches between expectations and reality, with a focus on simple cognitive tasks. While actual completion times between independent completion and AI-assisted completion did not differ, participants predicted AI to be significantly faster. The same bias was not observed when imagining help from another human participant. We identify a speedup illusion where people have accurate forecasts of independent completion times but significantly underestimate AI-assisted times. Additionally, time and effort dissociate: participants reported lower subjective effort with AI despite equivalent completion times. This suggests that completion time itself is not sufficient to characterize efficiency gains.

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Sunny Yu, Myra Cheng, Ahmad Jabbar, Ilia Sucholutsky, Katherine M. Collins, Dan Jurafsky, Robert D. Hawkins. 2026-05-22. Cognitive offloading and the speedup illusion in human-AI interaction. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.23177

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