#ai-dependence

#ai-dependence

Tim Metz is worried about the "Google Maps-ification" of his mind. Just as many people have come to rely on GPS apps to get around, the 44-year-old content marketer fears that he is becoming dependent on AI. He told me that he uses AI for up to eight hours each day, and he's become particularly fond of Anthropic's Claude. Sometimes, he has as many as six sessions running simultaneously. He consults AI for marriage and parenting advice, and when he goes grocery shopping, he takes photos of the fruits to ask if they are ripe. Recently, he was worried that a large tree near his house might come down, so he uploaded photographs of it and asked the bot for advice. Claude suggested that Metz sleep elsewhere in case the tree fell, so he and his family spent that night at a friend's. Without Claude's input, he said, "I would have never left the house." (The tree never came down, though some branches did.)

A MIT study published in June found that people using ChatGPT wrote less effectively, scoring lower on memory, focus, and critical thinking tests than those who wrote solo or with search engines.