No AI Fridays

Research shows that heavy reliance on AI language models can lead to cognitive debt, reduced engagement, weakened critical thinking, and skill deterioration by creating blind spots in decision-making. The "No AI Fridays" initiative proposes taking one day per week off from AI tools to reassess alignment with personal goals, rediscover the satisfaction of independent work, and reduce token usage over time. The practice has been mandated at HTMX and is being promoted as a simple but effective way to balance AI productivity gains against their cognitive downsides.