If someone had told me a year ago that I’d be using AI almost every day, I probably wouldn’t have believed them. At first, I saw tools like ChatGPT as just another way to “google” things. But over time, it became something that I use every day.
For text-based tasks, ChatGPT has become a sort of assistant. When I hit a wall while writing, I use it to sort out my thoughts or find a better way to phrase things. It honestly feels like having someone always there for me that helps me with everything. I’ve also played around with image-generation tools like DALL·E and Midjourney, especially when I need visuals for presentations. Instead of spending hours searching for the perfect visual, I can now create something unique in minutes.
That said, using these tools isn’t always smooth. Sometimes, they give overly confident answers that turn out to be wrong, so I’ve learned to double-check everything, specially if I am doing calculations. Another thing I’ve noticed is that the outputs can feel a bit generic, like they don’t fully “get” my personal style.
If I could change something, I’d love for these tools to better remember context. It would be great if they could adapt to my writing style or keep track of project details over time, rather than starting from scratch every session. Also, having them directly connected to trusted academic sources would make research tasks way more reliable.
Overall, using Generative AI has really changed the way I work. It hasn’t taken over what I do, it simply makes me think in new ways. I’m still the one doing the critical thinking, but now I have a quick, creative, and surprisingly helpful partner to bounce ideas off.
I also notice in my daily life that AI is becoming a great tool. I also agree with what you said about AI being a partner rather than a replacement for critical thinking. But I worry that, over time, constantly relying on AI for even the easy tasks could make us stop exercising that critical thinking as much. If our brains aren’t challenged regularly, our problem-solving skills could slowly decline without us noticing.