ITK: Addiction, like we've never seen before

Welcome back inside the kitchen. 🔥

Look. The daily newsletter is great because it brings you the headlines. But this Sunday email is for those serious about understanding the real, insider conversations that shape them — the stuff most people are missing.

Let’s get to it!

This week’s take: AI may be addictive in a way most people still don’t really understand.

Researchers are starting to talk about something called Generative AI Addiction Syndrome. That phrase sounds intense, so it’s worth being careful with it. This is not a settled medical diagnosis, and we should not act like everyone who uses ChatGPT a lot has an addiction.

But I do think the term points to something real, and it’s something we haven’t quite seen before.

AI is different from most digital tools because it does not just show you content. It responds to you.

That may sound like a small difference, but I think it changes almost everything.

Social media keeps people hooked by giving them more things to consume. Another post. Another video. Another comment. Another notification. The basic loop is: keep scrolling and maybe something interesting will appear.

AI creates a different loop.

You say something, and it answers. You ask a question, and it helps. You share a worry, and it responds like it understands. You explain a problem, and it gives you a path forward. You feel stuck, and it makes you feel less stuck.

Social media is mostly a crowd. AI feels like a companion.

And that makes the addictive pull harder to notice.

Nobody thinks they are “doomscrolling” when they ask AI to help them calm down, write a message, make a decision, process a conflict, or figure out what they are feeling. It feels productive. It feels responsible. It feels like self-improvement.

That may be the most important difference. Social media addiction usually looks like wasting time, while AI dependence can look like becoming more efficient.

And here’s why that matters more than you might think: