{"id":555786,"date":"2026-04-28T22:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T22:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/555786\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T22:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T22:11:13","slug":"i-stopped-asking-ai-for-answers-and-started-asking-for-frameworks-and-suddenly-it-all-clicked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/555786\/","title":{"rendered":"I stopped asking AI for answers and started asking for frameworks \u2014 and suddenly it all clicked"},"content":{"rendered":"

It doesn’t matter if you’re using ChatGPT<\/a>, Gemini, DeepSeek<\/a> or Claude; if there\u2019s one thing AI is more than happy to give you, it’s advice. Whatever your problem is \u2014 a problem with your boss at work, how to deal with your eccentric uncle at Thanksgiving, or which fridge you should choose for your kitchen \u2014 AI loves to tell you what it thinks you should do.<\/p>\n

It will even give you medical, legal and financial advice if you ask for it, which obviously you should take with a pinch of salt, because those decisions clearly need to be made by a professional.<\/p>\n

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The only problem is, a lot of the time, the advice doesn\u2019t work. That\u2019s not to say AI\u2019s advice is bad\u2026 it’s quite often very good. But one thing you\u2019ll notice is that the process never ends. One problem soon gets replaced by another, and you\u2019re back to talking to a chatbot<\/a> at 2.00am, ruminating over your life choices when really you should be asleep.<\/p>\n

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AI always wants to please<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the issue that, like an eager puppy, AI wants to please you, its owner, and when you ask it for advice, it tells you what it thinks you need to hear, not what\u2019s good for you. It doesn\u2019t always see the big picture.<\/p>\n

If what you need is help with something simple and functional, like the correct wording to write an email to contest a parking fine (I\u2019ve used it for this exact purpose this week, and it did a great job), that\u2019s one thing, but if you\u2019re asking ChatGPT whether you should break up with your partner, or quit your job, that\u2019s something else entirely.<\/p>\n

We also don\u2019t want to become dependent on AI to solve all our problems, because research has shown that the more we do, the more we start to risk experiencing a particular type of burnout known as smoothout<\/a>. What we need is AI to support us in making our own decisions, rather than make them for us, and that\u2019s where the \u201cframework\u201d prompt can come in handy.<\/p>\n

The Framework Prompt<\/p>\n

Instead of describing a problem to your chatbot and asking \u201cWhat should I do?\u201d, try adding \u201cDon\u2019t give me an answer, give me the framework I need to make this decision myself\u201d to the end of your prompts. I\u2019ve done this with numerous problems now, and it forces you to actually work through what you think and feel, and it supports you in coming to your own decision.<\/p>\n

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Quite often, the AI will give you a 10-step framework to run on your problem. It starts by asking you to define the real problem, and it goes on from there with steps specific to what you\u2019ve asked. It can be an illuminating process.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect the framework prompt to work for simple questions, especially ones where there\u2019s one answer, like \u201cWho is the President of the United States?\u201d, but for hard questions, it\u2019s a great option.<\/p>\n

Try it, and I promise you that if you work through all the steps, you\u2019ll get a much clearer picture of what you need to do, and you can reach your own conclusions without the existential guilt of having handed an important decision over to a non-human AI.<\/p>\n

You might not get an instant answer, but you\u2019ll end up with something more useful \u2014 a decision you actually believe in.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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