The Helper We Don’t Always Talk About
How often do you use AI in a day? Do you use it for only the simple stuff, like asking a question too specific for a Google search, or do you use AI to draft up important emails, write out text messages, and chat with you like it's your best friend? It's no surprise that AI has wormed its way into our everyday routines to the point where most of us can no longer imagine life without it. That said, we probably rely on it for some of the weirdest things we'd never admit...
1. Writing Simple Text Messages
Back then, you would've probably texted your friends back without so much as a blink. Now? You can't even fathom replying to certain people without asking AI to polish it first! Even a basic message needs to be rewritten several times until it sounds "perfect."
2. Figuring Out What to Say During an Argument
When emotions are running high and your brain has gone blank, no worries—you'll just turn around and ask AI for a better comeback. Arguments over text? Even easier to handle: all you gotta do is let AI in on the context, then have it argue your stance for you. Totally normal.
3. Making Important Decisions for Them
Should you take the job? Should you break up with your partner? No matter how important the decision, you're asking AI to tell you outright what you should do. Over time, that kind of assistance turns into reliance, especially when you feel uneasy about not talking things over with an AI first.
4. Remembering Basic Words
Have a word at the tip of your tongue that you just can't seem to remember? Well, instead of sitting there trying to remember it, you're taking it straight to AI to let it figure out for you what that word is. Sure, this might sound like a useful case, but really? Relying on a bot?
5. Making Excuses to Cancel Plans
If you don't want to hang out with a friend anymore, you can just let them know honestly. Of course, you're not going to do that—you're instead going to ask AI to come up with a believable excuse. Sometimes it doesn't even need to be an elaborate one; you simply want wording that makes saying no feel less uncomfortable.
6. Writing Birthday Messages
Cards used to require a few personalized sentences, but believe it or not, even those can now get an AI assist. You might have known this person for years, but you still swear you have nothing to write, and AI... somehow knows the exact thing to say? It gets even more awkward when the recipient can tell you've used AI, too. Yikes.
7. Making Tiny Everyday Decisions
It's not only the major decisions you rely on AI to make for you; in fact, AI has a say in what you eat for dinner, what TV show you should watch next, whether you should wear the black shirt or the blue one... the list goes on. This might sound harmless, but you're just giving up your autonomy.
8. Replying to Work Emails
Instead of replying to emails yourself like everyone else, you have your responses drafted by AI. After all, why write dozens of replies out yourself when you can just have a bot to help you? The habit can become so automatic that even writing three sentences without assistance can feel strangely difficult.
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9. Understanding Instructions They Didn’t Read Properly
Not sure what the instructions are telling you to do? It's okay—AI can interpret it for you and explain it as if you were five years old. It's pretty embarrassing if you constantly need AI to think through things for you because you're too lazy to do all that processing yourself.
10. Checking Whether Someone Is Mad at Them
Oh, no: is your friend angry? They didn't send an emoji, they used perfect punctuation and capitalization, and they haven't replied in three hours. Instead of asking them upfront, you (and many others) might paste conversations verbatim to AI and ask for a thorough analysis. You ought to know, though, that LLMs only really predict the right things to say to you, and they can't understand emotions at all.
11. Creating Dating App Messages
You don't just use AI for drafting up emails and text messages, but you also use it to come up with interesting openers to potential romantic prospects. You might even ask it to rewrite messages so they sound more confident, funny, or flirty before hitting send.
12. Planning What to Do on the Weekend
You'd think deciding how to spend your own free time would be simple, yet AI often ends up making the itinerary for you. You might have a budget or a certain list of interests, but AI still makes the final decisions for you. Your excuse? You're indecisive.
13. Explaining Jokes They Didn’t Understand
Ha ha ha... wait, what was so funny? When jokes fly over your head and you don't want to be the only person who didn't get it, you have one solution: ask AI. You're obviously not going to admit confusion, not when you can easily tell AI to explain it. Within seconds, you'll know exactly why the joke was supposed to be funny.
14. Talking Them Out of Buying Stuff
Are you an impulse shopper? Well, instead of talking yourself out of it, you reach out to AI for this, too. You might describe what you want, how much it costs, and why you're tempted, then ask whether you should really spend the money. You might even specifically want AI to argue against the purchase until the urge passes, which can feel a bit strange, considering it's not a sentient being.
15. Coming Up with Social Media Captions
Social media captions seem easy to come up with, but you want that perfect witty one-liner. And how would you get it without asking AI? In fact, you probably ask it to generate dozens of possibilities before selecting one you feel your followers will applaud you for.
16. Treating AI Like Their Best Friend
You have friends to talk to, but none like AI. So, you treat it exactly like you would with a real person: you vent about work, share random thoughts, ask for reassurance, and give updates about situations it already has context about (given that you've been talking to it for a while). The embarrassing part is, well, chatting with it like a real person.
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17. Googling Things They Could Easily Figure Out
Do a deeper dive, and you'd probably find what you're looking for on Google. But you're not going to waste your time, which means AI has even started replacing basic searches for questions that barely require research. After all, why look for answers yourself when you could just get a direct response?
18. Helping Them Brainstorm Almost Everything
A blank page isn't nearly as intimidating when AI can immediately produce 20 ideas for you. Whether you need to brainstorm gifts or party themes, AI is always giving you the rundown. After relying on that instant stream of suggestions for long enough, coming up with ideas completely on your own can feel pretty difficult.
19. Practicing Conversations Before They Happen
Believe it or not, job interviews aren't the only conversations people rehearse with AI. Heck, you've probably practiced how to negotiate your salary or apologize properly with AI. You could always do it with a mirror (or with a friend), but why do that when you have AI?
20. Asking Questions You're Embarrassed to Ask Anyone Else
Perhaps the most personal use of AI is simply having somewhere to ask questions without worrying about potentially embarrassing yourself. Sure, the information could be readily available elsewhere, but why do all that searching when you can ask AI exactly what you want?
