Close ChatGPT and Ask for Help: Overcoming Dependence on AI
- Matthew Gamache
- Mar 4
- 2 min read
Jumping to AI should NOT be your first choice when you’re stuck
The rise of AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini have made it easy to get answers right when you need them.
You have a personal assistant that can help with anything: project planning, coding, and even writing.
For early career researchers, these tools are tempting because you may feel isolated trying to solve a problem or rushed by upcoming deadlines. Or, if you’re like me, you’re worried about burdening others or sounding ignorant.
AI tools can certainly be helpful, especially for small, inconsequential problems, but jumping right to AI with questions can also be dangerous as it can:
Create convenience that becomes dependency
Prevent you from truly understanding your issue
Limit your future opportunities by not engaging with the community
In this post, we will cover how convenience can become dependency (point 1).
Convenience Should Not Replace Critical Thinking
If you have a digital assistant that can help you with seemingly any task right at your fingertips, why wouldn’t you use it?
Save 30 minutes writing emails by copying messages and having AI draft a response. Save hours brainstorming plans. Save days searching for the right code.
It’s so convenient to just type your needs into a text box and get answers within a few seconds.
You never have to stop and think!
Over time, though, if you choose the comfort of fast answers over spending a few extra minutes of sitting and thinking, you can turn convenience into dependence.
Your AI tool becomes a security blanket whenever you run into obstacles or uncertainty.
Overcoming Dependence on AI
Just like any other bad habit, overcoming dependence on AI becomes exponentially harder each time you use it, so let's take care of it now.
It’s fine to hand off some tasks to AI, but when you get to more complex issues that AI tools cannot solve, remember:
You have time to think. The increasing demands of productivity and immediate responses are not as dire as you think.
Use your resources. AI tools are trained on literature and content that is already readily available. Go find it.
Ask for help from humans. AI does not understand your problem. It only knows the statistically-probable words/code to string together.
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