{"id":499391,"date":"2026-03-28T03:21:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/499391\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T03:21:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:21:26","slug":"i-write-about-ai-for-a-living-what-people-confessed-to-me-about-using-chatgpt-surprised-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/499391\/","title":{"rendered":"I write about AI for a living \u2014 what people confessed to me about using ChatGPT surprised me"},"content":{"rendered":"

I write about AI a lot. Over the past year, I\u2019ve covered everything from AI relationships<\/a> to coaching bots<\/a> to people using ChatGPT every day at work<\/a> \u2014 which is probably why people confess things to me.<\/p>\n

They tell me their company has rolled out AI and no one really knows how to use it. That they relied on it to understand a pregnancy before telling their family. That they\u2019ve used it to decode ambiguous dating texts or to stay calm during arguments. But what fascinates me isn\u2019t just what they\u2019re using AI for. It\u2019s how they feel about it afterward.<\/p>\n

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Some feel conflicted because of the environmental cost. Others worry they\u2019re being lazy. A few are unsettled by the emotional attachments they\u2019ve developed and are trying to untangle. And some feel sharper, calmer and more capable than ever with a chatbot<\/a> at their fingertips 24\/7.<\/p>\n

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To understand these reactions better, I spoke to Danielle Hass, a PhD candidate in the Department of Marketing at West Virginia University, who has studied the emotional consequences of using generative AI.<\/p>\n

In a 2025 study<\/a>, her team researched what people are feeling, why those emotions arise, and what might reduce the discomfort. If AI is becoming part of everyday life, we need to understand the psychology of using it, not just the productivity gains.<\/p>\n

When AI gives you the ick<\/p>\n

People feel uneasy about using AI for all sorts of reasons. Environmental concerns come up often. So do worries about cheating at work. But Hass says the strongest emotional reactions tend to happen when people use AI in a specific way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the emotionally laden interpersonal messages, or \u2018heartfelt messages\u2019,\u201d she explains. \u201cThings like birthday wishes, love letters, wedding vows, and notes of appreciation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.<\/p>\n

Drafting a shopping list with AI is unlikely to keep you up at night. Asking it to help with a work email may feel like common sense. But when a message is meant to signal care, effort and emotional investment, that’s when things get difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we find is that it’s not just using AI that creates discomfort,\u201d Hass says. \u201cThe guilt comes when messages are sent where the recipient expects genuine personal investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, context matters. \u201cWhen you use AI to write a birthday card for your best friend, you’re in a situation where honesty, authenticity and effort are core to what the message is supposed to signal. That’s where the negative feelings really kick in.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hass\u2019s research suggests that the closer the relationship and the more meaningful the occasion, the worse people tend to feel if they rely on AI.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Getty Images)Defining the emotional hangover<\/p>\n

We know people feel bad, but what’s the emotion, specifically?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe primary emotion we identify is guilt,\u201d Hass says. She explains that the distinction really matters here, because guilt is different from embarrassment or shame. It\u2019s not just about how others might see you, it\u2019s about doing something that feels wrong to you.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing GenAI to write a heartfelt message and presenting it as your own creates a sense that you’ve misrepresented yourself to someone you care about,\u201d she explains. \u201cThat violation of your own ethical standards is precisely what triggers guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you send a love letter, your partner reasonably assumes you sat down and chose those words. That the phrasing reflects your thought and emotional effort. \u201cBut then the actual source of those words is an algorithm,\u201d Hass says.<\/p>\n

She describes this as a \u201csource-credit discrepancy\u201d \u2014 a mismatch between who appears to have authored the message and who actually did. That discrepancy is what makes the act feel so dishonest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just that the message feels abstractly inauthentic,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt\u2019s that you\u2019re creating a false impression of authorship in the mind of someone who trusts you.\u201d That\u2019s where the emotional hangover comes from.<\/p>\n

Should you come clean?<\/p>\n

When Hass explained this to me, I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about what someone should do if they\u2019re already stewing in this feeling. Should they admit it? Maybe.<\/p>\n

Hass says that transparency would likely reduce guilt because it removes the dishonesty at the core of the discomfort. \u201cIf the recipient knows the message came from AI, there’s no false impression of authorship, no source-credit discrepancy,\u201d she says. But disclosure doesn\u2019t magically make the situation simple.<\/p>\n

Now the dynamic shifts. How does the other person respond? Are they amused? Indifferent? Hurt?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re fine with it, that acceptance might facilitate a kind of self-forgiveness,\u201d Hass says. \u201cBut if they feel let down \u2014 that their special occasion didn\u2019t merit your personal effort \u2014 that reaction could intensify your guilt, which now comes from hurting someone you care about.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you wrote your mum\u2019s birthday card or your wedding vows with AI and aren\u2019t sure what to do, honesty might be the answer. Explaining why you used it, and that you genuinely cared, may help. But this is new emotional territory, and you can\u2019t control how someone else will react.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Shutterstock)How to avoid the emotional hangover<\/p>\n

One obvious option is to draw a hard boundary and avoid using AI for emotionally meaningful communication altogether.<\/p>\n

Hass suggests a more practical solution may be to reframe AI\u2019s role in your life. \u201cA more appropriate role for GenAI might be as a thinking partner rather than a ghostwriter,\u201d she says. In my time reporting on AI, that\u2019s broadly the view I hear from people who take a measured approach to AI tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing it to brainstorm, overcome writer’s block, or refine a draft you’ve already written yourself preserves your genuine voice and investment in the message,\u201d she says. It\u2019s also what she tells her students: \u201cGive it your best, authentic shot first, and then consider whether GenAI can help you sharpen it.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI can help us articulate things we struggle to say. It can nudge, structure and polish. But when it starts standing in for effort in moments meant to signal care, something shifts internally. (Which seems related to our exploration into what happens when you let AI do your thinking for you at work.<\/a>) <\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve felt that strange emotional hangover after using AI, this proves you\u2019re not imagining it. Understanding that mechanism is a positive step toward using these tools in ways that support us, rather than leaving us unsettled about our closest and most important relationships.<\/p>\n

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