How can you use AI to improve your life without losing yourself in it?
Use AI as a thinking partner for clarity and small next steps, keep real people in your life, and check what it tells you. The research we found warns that heavier chatbot use goes with worse outcomes (Fang et al., 2025), and that over-trusting AI goes with less critical thinking (Lee et al., 2025).
What can AI do well for you?
This is our view, not a research finding. Used deliberately, AI can help with the mechanics of thinking:
- Put a tangled thought into words, then ask it to ask you questions about it.
- Break a big goal into one small next step.
- Draft a plan for protected focus time.
- Summarize your own notes at the end of the week.
On the practical side, there is evidence that AI can make some writing work faster. In one experiment, professionals using ChatGPT on writing tasks took 40% less time and their output quality rose by 18% (Noy & Zhang, 2023).
What does the research warn about?
In a four-week randomized experiment with 981 people and over 300,000 messages, the assigned conditions had no significant effects. But participants who chose to use the chatbot more showed consistently worse outcomes on loneliness, emotional dependence and problematic use (Fang et al., 2025). That is a preprint, and heavier use may reflect differences that were already there.
A separate survey of 319 knowledge workers found that higher confidence in generative AI was associated with less critical thinking (Lee et al., 2025).
| Pattern | What it looks like | Why we say so |
|---|---|---|
| Thinking partner | You bring a question, get help structuring it, then decide for yourself. | Higher self-confidence went with more critical thinking (Lee et al., 2025). |
| Warning sign: dependence | You reach for it before people, or feel uneasy without it. | Emotional dependence and problematic use were measured, and were worse among heavier voluntary users (Fang et al., 2025). |
| Warning sign: unchecked trust | You accept answers without checking them. | Higher confidence in AI went with less critical thinking (Lee et al., 2025). |
How do you keep it healthy?
Again, these are our suggestions, not study findings.
- Decide what you are using it for before you open it.
- Set a time limit for the session.
- Check anything important against another source or a person.
- After a session, do one thing offline.
- If you notice you prefer it to people, talk to a person this week.
What AI is not
AI is not therapy or medical care, and neither are we. If you are struggling or in crisis, please contact a qualified professional or your local emergency or crisis service.
Want to talk it through?
We offer a free 30-minute call to listen. See also our guides to flow state and AI for organizational workflow.
Sources
Fang, C. M., Liu, A. R., Danry, V., Lee, E., Chan, S. W. T., Pataranutaporn, P., Maes, P., Phang, J., Lampe, M., Ahmad, L., & Agarwal, S. (2025). How AI and human behaviors shape psychosocial effects of extended chatbot use: A longitudinal randomized controlled study. arXiv:2503.17473 (preprint). Read the source
Lee, H., Sarkar, A., Tankelevitch, L., Drosos, I., Rintel, S., Banks, R., & Wilson, N. C. (2025). The impact of generative AI on critical thinking: Self-reported reductions in cognitive effort and confidence effects from a survey of knowledge workers. CHI 2025. Read the source
Noy, S., & Zhang, W. (2023). Experimental evidence on the productivity effects of generative artificial intelligence. Science. Read the source