Quoting Bruce Schneier

Simon Willison's Blog News

Summary

Bruce Schneier argues that writing assignments help develop critical thinking skills, and warns that over-reliance on AI can cause these skills to atrophy, as employers are already noticing.

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# A quote from Bruce Schneier Source: [https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/30/bruce-schneier/](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/30/bruce-schneier/) 30th July 2026 > The writing assignments I give my students are gym tasks, not work tasks\. I ask them to write policy memos not because the world needs more policy memos\. I assign them because the very act of writing, which includes thinking and outlining and drafting and editing, making and criticizing and revising arguments, will help develop the critical thinking skills they will need in their future careers\. And without this constant mental exercise, those skills will atrophy\. Employers are[already noticing](https://futurism.com/future-society/college-critical-thinking-ai)\. —[Bruce Schneier](https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/07/should-you-use-ai-for-a-task-heres-a-simple-way-to-decide.html),Should You Use AI for a Task? Here’s a Simple Way to Decide

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