"Let me ask ChatGPT." It's become a reflex. Not just for facts or trivia, but for personal decisions that only you can truly make. What to say to your mother. Whether to end a friendship. How to feel about a situation. Somewhere along the way, you stopped trusting your own judgment.
The confidence erosion
Every time AI makes a decision for you and it works out, it reinforces the belief that AI decides better than you do. Every time you make a decision without AI and it doesn't work out, it reinforces the same belief. The loop is self-reinforcing, and your confidence shrinks with each cycle.
Decisions that only you can make
AI can analyze data, but it can't feel what you feel. It doesn't know what keeps you up at night, what makes your stomach turn, what lights you up. The best decisions in life come from a combination of information and intuition. AI can provide the information. Only you have the intuition.
The test
Try making three decisions tomorrow without consulting AI. Any decisions — what to wear, what to cook, how to respond to someone. Notice how it feels. If the anxiety is significant, that tells you something important about where your self-trust has gone.