Today I watched someone lose an argument with themselves.
In my WhatsApp group, a member claimed an AI had "split personality."
As evidence, they showed two screenshots sharing how the AI seem to have different stances.
Except, they somehow missed the point that they used two different prompts.
When I pointed out the obvious (that different inputs = different outputs) something fascinating happened.
They immediately asked another AI to validate their theory.
Then shared that AI's response as proof.
The conversation continued this way.
Every point, every counterpoint, every piece of evidence was filtered through AI first.
Even when I shared an article about AI creating echo chambers, they asked AI to analyze it.
At the same time, they were agreeing that echo chambers are dangerous.
Without seeing the irony.
This person is smart. Accomplished. Successful.
But I was watching something concerning unfold in real-time:
An AI dependency that is so complete they couldn't form an opinion without consulting it first.
The pattern:
Hear new information.
Immediately ask AI to evaluate it.
Adopt AI's perspective.
Share that perspective as their own.
No pause for personal reflection, testing against experience, or independent analysis.
Just immediate outsourcing of the thinking process to AI and blindly regurgitating what AI is saying.
I'm seeing this alarming pattern emerging everywhere.
Smart people asking ChatGPT to analyze every email before responding.
Professionals running every decision through AI before trusting their judgment.
Writers who can't evaluate their own work without AI's validation.
The tools meant to enhance our thinking are replacing it instead.
What concerns me most is the atrophy.
Like muscles that weaken without use, our ability to think independently fades when we constantly defer to AI.
The person in my group flipped positions three times in ten minutes.
Not because they were learning or evolving their thinking.
But because each AI response suggested a different stance.
No core position of their own. Just whatever the last algorithm recommended.
"How is this human?" I finally asked.
The question was - is - genuine concern.
When we can't fact-check without AI, can't form opinions without AI, can't even disagree without asking AI for counterarguments...
We're not using AI as a tool anymore.
We're becoming the tool.
AI should challenge your thinking, not replace it.
It should help you articulate ideas you've already considered, not generate ideas for you to adopt.
It should sharpen your judgment, not substitute for it.
The most telling moment came at the end.
When I suggested they might be showing signs of AI dependency...
...they immediately asked AI what it thought about that observation.
The infection was complete.
Look, I'm not anti-AI (obviously).
My entire business is based on it.
But I use it to amplify my thinking, not to avoid thinking altogether.
Be on the lookout for emerging behaviors like these among your friends.
I fear that if this continues, it may become a real threat to society.
Let's practice, at least inside this community, a culture of using AI to augment, not replace.
Ask AI to help you think better, not tell you what to think.
Because if we surrender independent thought, getting it back is probably gonna be close to impossible.
And what you lose in the process might be the very thing that makes you irreplaceable.
FELIX
P.S. The Augmented Authority workshop on July 14th teaches you to build AI processes that transforms people instead of creating dependencies.
AI that catches limiting beliefs rather than reinforcing them.
AI that guides people to think better, not think less.
Details: www.felixtay.com/augmented-authority
There's a better way to use AI.
Let's use it.