Many people are becoming reliant on AI to navigate some of the most basic aspects of daily life. A colleague suggested that we might even call the most extreme users “LLeMmings”—yes, because they are always LLM-ing, but also because their near-constant AI use conjures images of cybernetic lemmings unable to act without guidance. For this set of compulsive users, AI has become a primary interface through which they interact with the world. The emails they write, the life decisions they make, and the questions that consume their mind all filter through AI first. “It’s like a real addiction,” Metz told me.
I mean. Guilty I think in a lot of ways. but it ‘feels’ like it helps sharpen the mind? Like if I use AI to think through a problem I feel like I have a better solution for the future, not a relapse of no retention?
Quote Citation: Lila Shroff, “The People Outsourcing Their Thinking to AI - The Atlantic”, DECEMBER 1, 2025, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/12/people-outsourcing-their-thinking-ai/685093/