Let’s face it. Many of us have used generative artificial intelligence some way or the other — whether it was for work, emails, or even writing greeting cards. But why is it that we do so?
Trend Pressure: FOMO. In an increasingly interconnected world, it’s hard to ignore the newest topics and innovations. AI is not an exception. Every day, technology startups publish their research, discoveries, and products on Instagram, Facebook, and X. That leads to FOMO. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) causes a human brain to fear being left “out of the loop”. And with more and more social media platforms and articles discussing AI by the day, it’s harder than ever to not get the feeling that you’re missing out if you’re not using it.
Complex Decisions. Find virtually any article supporting GenAI and you’ll see recognition of its benefits when solving problems and making decisions beyond human capacity. Artificial intelligence is extremely adept at analyzing data and making conclusions — whether it’s calculating what your child likes to eat based on past meal patterns or choosing the best advertisements for users based on their search history. Now, one could say that this isn’t necessarily beyond human capacity, but think about this. Say that you want to calculate what your child likes to eat. As a human, you might consider the last 5 meals, but while using AI, you can feed it hundreds of variables and giant datasets, causing people to start relying on it to decide things they actually could do themselves.
Cost Efficiency. McKinsey Global Institute’s March 2025 survey noted that the during first half of 2024, businesses using generative AI found cost reductions across all functions, with HR seeing the highest overall decrease (50%) and risk, legal, and compliance the lowest (33%). Additionally, using AI is generally free for anyone using it non-commercially. Creating an account with ChatGPT or sending a query to Copilot is basically free. That means that if you want to make a song but can’t figure out what to write for the lyrics, you don’t even need to pay a lyricist to write some for you — all you need is to send a request to GenAI.
Speed. Generative chatbots can write thousands of words in minutes that would take humans hours or days. For instance, let’s say you ask a bot to write a story. A human needs to eat and sleep. AI, on the other hand, can produce a full novel with enough requests in less than an hour. Frontier, an AI supercomputer, recorded 9.95 quintillion calculations each second (9.95 exaflops). In our world where time is money, we prize speed and productivity about all. So if AI can do things quickly enough, why should we do it ourselves?
Accuracy. Since artificial intelligence is essentially a supercomputer written off countless sources scattered across the internet, it’s hardly a surprise that many of us believe AI is always right — just like we’d believe a calculator or a clock. Though AI can generally reduce error rates in calculations and prediction, the Columbia Journalism Review found that chatbots were mostly bad at declining questions beyond their capabilities, instead giving incorrect, unfounded, or theoretical answers instead. The same report asked multiple chatbots about article sources, and found that most of the bots identified the sources incorrectly rather then declare confusion.
Instant Gratification. Writer and speaker James Clear writes about this in his book Atomic Habits. According to Clear, we live in a delayed-reaction world. Since we repeat habits based on the rewards we get, it’s important that we get the reward right away. Taking dopamine cycles into account, getting answers from AI is immediate. With virtually no effort from the user, we can get a seemingly magical answer. We’re curious lifeforms, so it’s only natural that we want answers. So since dopamine decides whether an action is “worth it” or not, an quick response is extremely important.
Personalization. Unlike a typical conditional-run machine, artificial intelligence responds to you in a way that takes your preferences and query into account. AI recognizes your interests, writing style, and even habits. Though it sounds strange or downright creepy, humans happened to be wired for relevance and social connections. We’ll stick with AI because we feel that it understands us or grants us a false sense of belonging — just like we might feel more touched if we get a gift with our name inscribed on it. However, it’s important to remember that AI is simply a machine. It isn’t your parent, friend, or sibling, but a system of equations and algorithms functioning in sync with your inputs.
So the reason why we use artificial intelligence so much isn’t limited to its speed, accuracy, or even convenience. It’s because of a complex system of psychological reactions that convince us to use AI again and again. But the next time you open ChatGPT, ask yourself: am I using it because I really need it — or because I’m being pulled by the habit?
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I really had to pause and think about this one — as an AI user myself, why do I use AI so much? Anyway, next article will be published September 30th unless otherwise stated. Thank you for reading!
I like writing about technology, Artificial Intelligence, and psychology. I'm also a student, so occasionally, I'll write about productivity and studying!
