How AI-Brained Are You, Actually?
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini... can't tell if you should ask AI or just text a friend? Six levels of AI dependence — from full analog to full cyborg.
How Do You Actually Use AI? | 32 Types

You do all your thinking first, then bring AI in at the end — specifically to poke holes in it. "Is there a flaw in this logic?" "Does this direction hold up?" Validation, not generation, is the use case. You're not interested in AI handing you conclusions. You lead, AI assists. That's the natural order, and your decisions are genuinely better for having that final check. Removing AI wouldn't shake your confidence — it'd just remove one useful checkpoint.
You'd rather sit with your own thoughts than ask AI what someone's behavior means. That said, you've definitely typed "why would someone do this" into a chat window at 11 PM. Whatever came back didn't become your final verdict — but it occasionally helped.
You build the skeleton of any project yourself before AI ever gets involved. "Does this argument structure hold?" is about as far as the consultation goes. Your thinking is independent by design, and that's not a limitation — it's the whole architecture.
Free tier covers most of what you actually need — you've tested this empirically. Upgrading only happens when a specific work need genuinely demands it. Time and focus are worth more than any subscription, and you spend accordingly.
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