It’s 8 a.m. on a quiet Thursday morning. I have my cup of coffee in one hand and my laptop open on the desk. Before I even check my emails or social media, I open ChatGPT. This has become my ChatGPT Routine, my little digital journaling session, my brainstorming buddy, my accountability partner, and sometimes, my patient therapist.
This morning, I asked ChatGPT to help me outline a few things for a personal project I’ve been working on. In less than a minute, it gave me a perfectly structured plan, clear, actionable, and surprisingly well thought out. Honestly, if I had no clue or prior understanding of what I was doing, I could have taken its answer as gospel truth and run with it. This quick efficiency highlights the power of using AI for productivity.
And that got me thinking about AI dependency and creativity. How often do we, in our quest for speed and clarity, let the machine do the thinking for us, blurring the line between help and complete reliance?
When AI Feels Like Magic: The Productivity Edge
Let’s be honest, AI feels magical sometimes. You ask a question, and boom, instant answers, neatly packaged and ready for use. It remembers your tone, adjusts to your mood, and even learns your style over time.
For someone like me who juggles projects, mentorship, writing, and tech advocacy (like managing my journey as a Remote Worker in Kenya where productivity is key), it’s an incredible tool. I can brainstorm faster, plan smarter, and even write LinkedIn posts that sound like they took an hour when, in reality, they took 10 minutes (with generative AI’s help, of course).
But here’s the twist: The more I use AI, the more I realize the responsibility that comes with it.
AI Co-Pilot vs. Driver: Navigating the Line of Dependency
AI can be a co-pilot, but it shouldn’t be the driver. There’s a fine line between using it to amplify your creativity and outsourcing your thinking entirely.
When I got that perfect response this morning, part of me smiled, and part of me paused. What if I didn’t already have an idea of what I wanted? Would I have questioned the output, or simply trusted it because it sounded smart?
The Role of Discernment: Questioning the AI-Generated Idea
This is where discernment comes in. AI provides data, patterns, and suggestions, but it doesn’t know you. It’s like having a super-intelligent assistant that can do research but has no emotional intelligence or lived experience.
Why AI Doesn’t Know Your Intuition, Values, or Story
You still have to bring your human wisdom to the table. The machine is fast, but it’s inherently neutral. It doesn’t grasp your personal values or the nuances of your story, which are essential for authentic communication.
The Human Element That AI Can’t Replace
When I talk to young professionals or entrepreneurs, I always tell them AI won’t replace you, but someone who knows how to use AI will.
But that only works if you stay human in your approach. The human element AI can’t replace is simple:
- AI can help you plan a speech, but it can’t feel the energy of a crowd.
- It can summarize a book, but it can’t tell you how that book made you cry at 2 a.m.
- It can write you a caption, but it can’t know the joy behind your smile in that photo.
The real work—the decision-making, the creativity, the empathy—that still lies within us. We must preserve this critical thinking to ensure the output remains original and emotionally resonant.
The Healthiest Way to Use AI: A Philosophy
After that conversation, a few key questions rolled through my mind:
- How much of our thinking are we outsourcing to AI without realizing it?
- Are we using it to enhance our work or to avoid the discomfort of thinking deeply?
- When was the last time we paused to challenge an AI-generated idea instead of just accepting it?
I believe the healthiest way to use AI is to treat it like a second brain—powerful, but not infallible. A tool that should be questioned, corrected, and guided. AI is a mirror. It reflects back the quality of questions we ask and the knowledge we already have. The better you think, the better it responds.
Conclusion: Let AI Make You Faster, Not Lazier
As we we enter into a new month, I’ll leave you with the same reflection I had in my morning chat:
Let AI make you faster, not lazier. Let it make you sharper, not shallower. Let it help you dream bigger, but make sure you’re the one steering the dream. Here’s to another month of learning, building, creating, and yes… having productive morning chats with AI.
Trust the machine, but verify with wisdom.