Gregory Benford made a similar statement about technology, where humans are in constant war with AI and often don't know how the tech they use work. IIRC there was a spaceship in Great Sky River[0] that could only be operated by humans because they did the tutorials. (Humanity's lack of knowledge was less a permanent regression and more a side-effect of constantly fighting, and losing, the war against the machines. Hard to study and learn when you're fighting all the time).

0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sky_River_(novel)