THE Edison Earl excels in his work as a graduate practitioner in University of Arts Bournemouth In England. He has produced more marketing content than ever for school and doubled his fans on Instagram for the past seven months. But he struggles to get the credit, as the Chatgpt app made much of the work he presented. For the past two years he has been talking to chatgpt for most of the day. “Can you rewrite this email?” “What do you think about this post on social media and this fact?”

Earl admits to become dependent on the tool released Openai at the end of 2022, which is now used regularly by more than 400 million people. Similar software, including Gemini from Google of Alphabet Inc. or Anthropic’s Claude, commercially available as … assistant researchers or … digital trainees. The disadvantage for real practitioners and new beginners I spoke with: Some depend too much on artificial intelligence, undermining their confidence and enhancing the cheat’s syndrome. “I trusted it so much that I lost my faith in my own decisions and in my thinking process,” Earl says.

Young employees use artificial intelligence tools more than middle and senior executives, according to a 2025 study by the Dutch Bearingpoint Management Consultants, which examined more than 300 directors in Europe and the US. While senior executives often ignore artificial intelligence tools because they trust their own know -how, younger workers do the opposite.

Earl remembers he had huge pride in his job before he started using the Chatgpt. Now there is a gap in which he cannot put his finger. “I became more lazy … I go to AI immediately because it is integrated within me that it will create a better response,” he says. This type of preparation can be strong at a younger age. An HR executive said that one of the new workers confessed that he did not know how to contribute to the team’s meetings. When he was pressured to say why, he explained that he had entered the workforce during the lockdown for Covid and was based on … lifting hands during telecurs. Without a hand emoji to activate in real life, he had to learn how to talk to the offices of the work.

The preparation of artificial intelligence transcends office etiquette and potentially erodes critical thinking skills, a phenomenon highlighted by researchers from Microsoft, which Earl himself has observed. “I feel that my brain is a little inert,” he says. “I don’t push the boundaries of my brain so much, I push my own thoughts.”

Of course, nothing is black and white, as Chatgpt offers many benefits. Earl uses it to monitor his spending on the pub and elsewhere and managed to balance his budgets for the first time. He also uses it to choose clothes. But he lacks the exploration of markets and make things wrong. To make a mistake. “This spark where I enter a store and I see something and I think, ‘This is a resonance with me’, I don’t have it anymore,” he says. “I buy things because the chatgpt told me.”

This may seem like an extreme case, but there are increasing evidence that many people, especially those who are younger and have been based on artificial intelligence tools for things like homework, develop technology dependencies for both work and personal issues. A recent study highlights the fascinating way in which chatbots can do work and the fact that their answers are so friendly.

The latter is probably more powerful than we imagine. Think about how you feel when you hear a compliment and think that Chatgpt and its competitors often frame their answers with flattery and positive encouragement. The co -founder of Openai, Sam altmanhe recently admitted that the latest version of the tool had become very “exaggerated” and that his engineers were working to stain it.

Openai’s survey revealed last month that while most Chatgpt users have a healthy relationship with technology, a subset of users show signs of “emotional dependence”. The randomized control test of 981 participants suggested that these people had “problematic use”.

Realizing that he had probably developed a habit, Earl canceled his subscription to Chatgpt 20 £ 20 last week. After two days, he already felt that he had achieved more at work and, strangely, was more productive. “I feel like I work again,” he says. “I plan, I think and write.” But the complete abstention from artificial intelligence is probably not the answer, especially when others use it to gain a competitive advantage. The challenge now is for Earl and other young professionals to use it without letting their brain be atrophy.

Earl’s search for a healthy AI balance can be one of the great challenges of his generation. But technology companies should also explore ways of designing products that help instead of preventing spiritual development. And a broader debate about creating healthy boundaries with artificial intelligence would not go wrong. Earl’s sincerity in this respect is refreshing. We need more than that.