3 signs AI is thinking for you.

Situation

The answer comes too fast, before you've even decided what you expected.

Warning signs

• ·skimming after the first sentence
• ·shorter and shorter prompts, less and less of your own thinking
• ·“lost time” with AI without remembering the original question

Practical tip

Before you send the prompt, write down in one sentence what you expect as an answer — if you can't compare it against the answer afterward, you didn't read it, you just consumed it.

Situation

You accept a claim because of the confident tone, not because you verified it.

Warning signs

• ·you accept something faster if it confirms what you already thought
• ·you don't ask “how do you know that?”
• ·a different answer to a rephrased question confuses you, but doesn't make you suspicious

Practical tip

Ask a control question on every important answer — “if I got this from an intern with the same confidence, would I check it?” If yes, check it now too.

Situation

AI gives you three options, and you automatically pick the easiest one to accept.

Warning signs

• ·you can't justify the choice beyond the AI's answer
• ·you're less willing to disagree with AI than with a person
• ·the question is no longer “what do I think,” but “what did the AI say”

Practical tip

Apply the 10/10/10 rule to the suggestion itself — what will I think of it in 10 minutes / 10 hours / 10 days. If there's no added perspective of your own at any of those horizons, it was an approval, not a decision.