After Internet Dependency

post by Vorak · 2025-04-27T08:18:11.367Z · LW · GW · 1 comments

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 ChatGPT recently introduced improved cross-chat memory, and I've found myself using it a lot more sense then. Everything from helping write components with unfamiliar JavaScript libraries, to counseling me through a breakup. So much so that when I face a new problem, my mind turns not to breaking it down myself, but how to structure it as a prompt for o3 to help me solve. As useful as these models are, I think I'm experiencing first hand a new type of dependency. 

This parallels a similar problem I had before LLMs got large enough to be useful. I've always been more of a word-cell than a shape-rotator, so when navigating unfamiliar areas, it's easier to pull out Google Maps than actually understand where things are, and how to get there. So ever since I learned to drive, I would follow Google's unwavering blue line to my destination. And if I ever faced a roadblock, it would seamlessly reroute me along the next fastest path. However like ChatGPT, I found myself completely helpless without this tool. To the point where if my phone died, I would be forced to charge it before I could find my way home.

I'm now finding that instead of just having trouble navigating from point A to point B, I struggle to navigate life without the advice of my pocket oracle. I've thought about embracing it, and purchasing Meta glasses to fill in the gaps where ChatGPT doesn't fit, but I've seen where that leads. Instead I'm trying an experiment: doing things the old fashioned way. Instead of generating most of my code, I'm treating AI like a knowledgeable colleague who I don't want to bother too frequently. Rather than using o3 like a cheatcode to my love life, I'm leaning more on my friends.

o3 has no problem one-shotting a boiler-plate frontend, but repeatedly failed to help me code a particle editor using a newer library than existed in it's training data. Also, sitting in my basement staring at ChatGPT.com is not (yet) the best way to maintain friendships and find a new boyfriend.

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comment by Dom Polsinelli (dom-polsinelli) · 2025-04-27T19:37:37.123Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Also, sitting in my basement staring at ChatGPT.com is not (yet) the best way to maintain friendships and find a new boyfriend.

 

Are you stepping away as to not be dependent, to not lose some part of the human experience no matter how reliable these tools become, or simple for practical reasons?

Also, do you find LLMs to be an effective tool in interpersonal relationships? You call it a cheat code and that sounds much better than my personal experience so far although I have mostly been using them for debugging code rather than social situations.