I have been hesitating to say this but the pattern is now so consistent I just have to share the observation: LLM users don't just behave like addicts, not even like gambling addicts. They specifically behave like kratom addicts. "Sure, it can be dangerous. Sure, it has risks. But I'm not like those other users. I can handle it. I have a system. It really helps me be productive. It helps with my ADHD so much."
@glyph I have a friend who spent the last year+ battling a kratom addiction. I get the analogy, and why you chose it, but using an addiction framing to talk about LLM usage is an analogy that risks really trivializing addiction (Is there a biological, genetic component to LLM usage? Is LLM usage linked to underlying psychological disorders like anxiety and depression?). I understand how you got here, and don’t think you’re wrong exactly, but I do wish you hadn’t made this argument.
@jacob I sure don’t like it either. but now that we have national news stories where chatbot use is directly linked to suicides, including teen suicides, divorces, mental health hospitalizations and a variety of other extreme outcomes, I don’t think that the addiction comparison risks trivializing it. We really aren’t taking the risks seriously enough.
@vaurora @glyph I don’t agree. Addiction with chemical dependence and heritable contributing factors feels palpably different to chatbots — to me. But also I don’t know of any evidence beyond anecdotes either way, so I think y’all’s opinion is just as valid as mine, and don’t much see a need to convince anyone. Maybe I’m wrong, wouldn’t be the first time :)
Something I posted the other day which relates to this:
The Friends of Eliza can help you overcome your AI/LLM prompt-query compulsion syndrome.
Endorphins are the hardest to resist. Work together and we can beat this.
The first meeting is in the Chinese Room at 11:00am.
Coffee and Cake will be available 🙂☕️🧁
As with kratom addicts, there is even a period of time when they're correct, so it's hard to challenge. The *first* time a person with executive function challenges uses kratom, maybe even the first few months, it really *does* improve their mood, their executive function, etc. But then the secondary cumulative effects start to gradually erode their cognitive abilities so slowly they don't notice.
@glyph if you’re not familiar, searching for “variable intermittent reinforcement” might be informative. It’s the same mechanism behind slot machines, Facebook notifications, and email.
@genehack @glyph Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal. A book on how *all* this shit works.
yes it's gambling addiction
my long rant: https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/06/05/generative-ai-runs-on-gambling-addiction-just-one-more-prompt-bro/
I'm still open to being wrong, and there are still plenty of people who still exhibit critical judgement in other areas despite my disagreements with them on LLM use. Kratom has a much more straightforward biochemical mechanism which we know is bad for specific and impossible-to-avoid reasons. Maybe there really are safe techniques for LLM use and I sure hope we figure out what they are. But way, way too many tech leaders have started using these tools and then had their brains publicly cooked
I am now extremely worried by people getting curious about kratom itself. I would be VERY upset if someone learned about the substance as a result of this post and then took some, so if you are curious about it, it is EXTREMELY bad. For more details on it: https://youtu.be/TLObpcBR2yw
@glyph This feels about right, and with this, the next trick is building a culture of healing and support for when those who have fallen prey to this addiction are ready for change.
@mttaggart @glyph
not exactly on the spot but close to it on "culture of healing" i'd say, it speaks of "recovering prompt writers", don't know if you read this marvelous, lenghty piece: https://sightlessscribbles.com/the-colonization-of-confidence/ ?
@glyph I just keep coming back to that LLMs put our brains directly on the inner loop of an optimization algorithm — that's already true to some degree with advertising and social media engagement algorithms, but LLMs tighten that loop even more, and we don't know what that does to brains!
@glyph I never want to cast shade on addicts for being addicted, addictions are fucking awful.
I absolutely will cast shade on addicts *or anyone else* for insisting I should be addicted too, and for transforming all of society around the idea that my being addicted is a good thing.
