Aibu - using AI?

[finsberry]

Im using AI for a lot of things and have become very dependent on it. Here are some examples

• putting ingredients in and asking for recipes
• translation
• filtering potentially triggering news stories like the r* academy that I don’t want to google
• Frequently for work
• for general quick questions
• occasionally to rewrite emails/ messages when the situation is sensitive

Aibu to think everyone is using it to this extent? I am using multiple times daily and pay.
yabu - not using it
yanbu - using it

I guess people thought the same way about automatic cars/washing machines/calculators/online libraries.

You can keep your brain sharp doing things you want to do and get ai to do the shit you don’t.

I’m not very good at writing softly worded emails and I can be a bit blunt and clunky. I use it to help soften the tone of the message I’ve composed and I find it helpful. I’ve also found it good for analysing a lot of qualitative user entered data and its spotted trends which I would have missed. I’ve always gone back to the original data and double checked it though.

Coding. Work pay.

yes it’s a normal and predictable response

there is certainly a rational for caution - it can be wrong, it has bias, it can be overused, data privacy, where it’s going

but much of the fear displayed on this thread and everyday fear comes from a lack of knowledge and prejudice

I use it for lesson plans (I coach DC in a sport), discount codes (that all work and have saved me loads of money), itineraries, and recipes.

It enhances my life, and has not turned me into an amoeba.

The assumption that people who use AI don’t use their brains or rely on it to be told how to think is a clear example of a lack of understanding and prejudice

Computers have been doing this for years. It’s a development

I think google will become defunct very quickly (as a search engine anyway - I know they have their own AI functionality)

I refuse to use it at all.

I don't use it for frivolous purposes, because burning up energy to help you menu plan is the height of stupidity.

I had a colleague have the sheer audacity to fact check my work using AI, and when he didn't get a positive response, told my manager I was doing my job wrongly. My manager asked me about it casually before explaining the source of it - and he was pretty sure the guy used AI slop before talking to me.

For those who say they never use it

I think you will find you do - every day

its built into all your streaming services, online shopping, work tools, uber, google maps, most of your apps, everyone you use a chat function on a website, your bank uses it to detect fraud

its everywhere

Need to divide AI (work tools, specific software for specific purposes) and LLMs.

Loads of interesting psych research coming out about use of LLMs at the moment. I recommend this podcast interview with two such researchers, and the risk of 'cognitive surrender'. Spoiler: they are not very optimistic. https://youarenotsosmart.com/2026/04/13/yanss-337-how-to-maintain-your-critical-thinking-and-avoid-cognitive-surrender-when-using-ai-to-solve-problems-make-decisions-and-learn-new-things/

LLMs are not search engines - they are prediction engines so being right is not their point; they may or may not be, depending on the training data they have been given, and you may or may not realise depending on your expertise. They are also designed to suck you in (cf the persuasive sycophantic language) and keep you there for your lovely juicy data. They can be tweaked to preference one or other viewpoint depending on the owner (cf Grok and Elon Musk), or funder (anyone remember Cambridge Analytica?). Never forget that they are BUSINESSES, at the whim of the money, not necessarily designed for the progression of humanity.

So yes, YABU to outsource your thinking to LLMs, and no, not everyone is doing so. Which will drive another polarising inequity wedge into society. And the environmental stuff, but sadly that argument is never enough to persuade people to step away and look critically at the shiny new toys.

But they would have a point in some of those cases, wouldn't they. We did lose abilities because of them.

AI can keep its convenience and I will keep my skills. If you never do the shit you don't want to do, you will become incompetent at it, and I am not interested in that.

I use it to see how to fix things around my house.
I repaired my dryer the other day using it .

I've never used AI at home.

At work we are encouraged to use it. I don't much; I can write a perfectly coherent email or report. However, yesterday I had to complete a risk assessment form, something I've never done before and wasn't sure about as it's not usually in my remit. I put it through Copilot which told me exactly what to do.

I thought it was great, actually, really helpful.

It's not even removing the need for people to think for themselves, it's reinforcing how much people can't be fucked to think for themselves but how much they really should.

I never use AI to be honest

The fact that people seriously posit that AI is on a par with general technological progress like washing machines proves the fucking point more than anything.

Nonsense. Copilot got something completely wrong to do with a soccer match last week and insisted a particular game in the calendar wasn't being played. When I told it that it was, it asked for proof. Even when I provided it with links, it told me " I can see why you think this game is happening, but it isn't." 50,000 people that attended would beg to differ.

So, not just hallucinating, it won't even accept accurate data provided

I refuse to use it for any reason. Gen Z refuses to use it, too.

They don't want to be replaced by AI.

I believe the news suggested that this is why Sam Altman's house was firebombed by a Molotov cocktail, twice, in recent days.

I use AI similarly to you OP, especially emails at work. I do think for and write content myself, but it's nice to get a second perspective on something.

YANBU

I use it for reconfiguring sitting rooms/bedrooms - moving furniture around so I can see what it will look like before I put my back out and then not actually liking it.

I use it most weeks, it is a useful tool which can save a lot of time. I do not feel in anyway that it is preventing me from using my brain 🙄

Apps like ChatGPT are only a tiny fraction of what AI can and is doing in industry, science and tech, you can see talks by the CEO of Nvidia on YouTube which will blow your mind. As PPs have said, you are already using it vicariously anyway, and you deciding not to use it will make no difference at all. The only thing that might put a spanner in the works is Miliband's net zero policy, in which case I suspect he will get punted.

The one use case for AI which can seriously, seriously get in the fucking bin is AI art of all kinds. It's literally weaponised plagerism on an industrial scale.

The Google AI results you get on a search are from the AI scraping the data from websites. They've bundled the search engine tool that determines where your site will be in the search results with their AI scraper. You won't be on Google results unless you allow it to scrape your site

This means that instead of Google taking you to where the info comes from, it'll show you an AI overview instead. Driving down web traffic. If sites get fewer and fewer views they become financially pointless and will shut down

What will happen is the AI will be training on other AI created content. Enshittification will happen

AI becoming ourboros, a snake eating itself