A review of artificial intelligence's influence on human cognition and ethical decision-making

Artificial intellligence (AI), over a past few years, has emerged as a consistent partner in almost all sectors, including healthcare, finance, media, and many more. With the increased use of AI, it has sparked numerous discussions on the tables related to its ethical usage and effects. The present study probes the real-world example and theoretical insights from 2018 to 2025 to assess how AI, with its features such as recommendation systems, decision support tools, and planning models, might impact decision-making. For the study, three major areas were kept in concern-1) Psychological and emotional impacts, 2) decision making process, and 3) While it is true that AI’s assistance supports accuracy and pace to the workflow but it might also lead to certain issues such as automation bias, lack of trust in algorithms, and risk of manipulation. In the study, researchers observed the gaps in the given time frame, specifically in culture and long-term emotional responses influenced by AI. Addressing the gaps, researcher suggests developing an explainable AI(XAI), strong regulatory systems, and a more sophisticated collaboration between humans and AI.