When we no longer ‘got this.’

How AI and weight loss drugs are limiting our intuition.

We are living in a moment where it has become increasingly commonplace to outsource our intuition. From using ChatGPT to break up with girlfriends to relying on Claude to track macros, it seems like consulting anything other than an internal gut feeling is preferred these days.

From almost 200 million users per day consult ChatGPT to wearable technology growing more sophisticated and popular suggests that we continue to find more measurable data and statistics to inform us about our most basic needs.

The most common prompts in ChatGPT suggest people are most often searching for practical guidance. While humans have always consulted “their elders” for life advice, consulting machines has a different feel. The tendency to look outward for information about our internal experiences only seems to be trending upward.

I’ve noticed this firsthand as a licensed psychologist whose work lies at the intersection of eating disorders and intuition. The experience of leaning on AI to help us in decision making processes is occurring at a time when one in eight Americans is taking these drugs. Retatrutide, a new weight loss peptide, is being marketed as “the Godzilla of weight loss drugs” and promises faster and more drastic results than Ozempic. Due to these drugs’ effectiveness in reducing hunger cues, dietitians suggest setting alarms as a reminder to eat. The notion that we can look inward for answers about our lives and our bodies seems like it is becoming a distant memory.

While incredibly useful for many navigating diabetes and other health issues, these drugs seem to simply shut down an internal hunger cue when used in pursuit of weight loss.

I fear that GLP-1s might be a small piece in the larger puzzle of a loss of intuition. We’re now using a noon alarm clock to remind us to have lunch, Gemini to ask about an interaction with a friend, and an aura ring to tell us how we slept. In the process, we’re becoming desensitized by the notion that external markers should dictate how we move through the world. We seem to be destroying our relationship to our own internal compass, and it is only going to further American’s struggles with anxiety, depression and even resilience. The widespread adoption of generative AI and GLP-1s into our daily lives normalizes a shift away from intuition.

Jorm Sangsorn/istock

In my practice, I work with clients to get more in touch with their needs. Learning to rely less on others’ opinions, feedback, and judgement is a huge success for many struggling with any mental health issue. That noise can cause tremendous self-doubt, leading to even more anxieties. As I observe, the more one can slow down and assess a situation for themselves, the better they feel about their decisions.

While it is certainly true that AI is affecting major positive changes to our world, AI is already assisting aging demographics in their ability to stay in their homes. Additionally, GLP-1s are already benefiting many and are only getting more attention for their future possible benefits. Yet, the widespread adoption of these tools into our daily lives normalizes a shift away from intuition.

I find that my clients struggling the most are also the most externally oriented. They tend to have an overreliance on validation from others. They fixate on nutrition labels as evidence for what they should or shouldn’t eat, and they become obsessed with metrics that tell them what nutritional marker should be met. Ironically, these clients are often the most malnourished. They can also be tremendously indecisive in their lives, constantly seeking input from others (or now AI) to try to take action. Ultimately, these clients feel stuck.

As I observe the societal shift toward leaning more heavily on AI to act as a sounding board, or to answer questions about tasks or interpersonal strife, I am reminded of the experiences I see with my eating disorder clients. This tendency to bolster oneself and constantly seek external validation is reminiscent of the external orientation that leaves so many suffering.

Not trusting oneself and the ability to make decisions is a marker of depression. Locus of control, a well-studied psychological concept in depression literature, suggests that we tend to be either internally or externally oriented toward how our future is determined. This means people with a high external locus of control do not feel they are in charge of their life’s path and often experience high rates of depression and anxiety. Those with a strong sense of agency over their destiny (internal locus of control) are more resilient, proactively cope with emotions and are overall healthier.

The desire to focus heavily on outside sources of information for things that used to come so much more naturally coincides with an alarming decline in Americans’ mental health. American’s resiliency is also at a low point. The challenges we face in building the capacity to “bounce back” are deeply connected to our collective inability to tolerate discomfort.

The idea that life might just be challenging, and that it is up to us to navigate these difficulties, no longer seems to hold much water. And with a more normative experience of looking outward for guidance, I worry we are losing our sense of “I’ve got this.”

It is not that AI or weight loss drugs are bad, but the surge in popularity of these tools could lead to an overreliance on them. Nullifying our own internal tools to make decisions about how we interact with others, what we eat or even when we eat means we become dependent. Dependency is also a vulnerability factor in the development of depressive symptoms. In a time of great mental health strife, it’s all the more important for us to build confidence in ourselves and our innate abilities.

If we want to improve mental health, we need to remind ourselves that there was a time when we never needed to consult technology to ask how an email sounds. We also do not need to track our steps every day to know we are moving our bodies. Feeling better means being able to move toward an internal locus of control, reminding ourselves that we “got this,” and it is not because Claude told us so.