AI dependency is more widespread and problematic than you think. It’s pernicious, not-always-easy-to-detect effects are likely to spread further and become more problematic as the technology gets more powerful, more intuitive, and we entrust more of our lives, particularly our thought processes, to it.

In a Bloomberg article titled, “Addicted to ChatGPT? Here’s How to Reclaim Your Brain,” users confess a growing reliance on generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude—not as assistants or genius-level interns, but as virtual co-equals they fully entrust to make important decisions, orchestrate their work, manage their calendars, organize their thoughts, even mediate their emotions. The upsides are numerous and may ultimately outweigh the downsides, but make no mistake, there are downsides, particularly as we develop a dependence on these tools bordering on - and sometimes crossing over into - addiction.