Are we using AI to think better or to stop thinking at all?

I've been noticing something lately. We went from using AI as a tool to letting AI become the default for almost everything: writing, deciding, planning, even reflecting.

Need to write an email? AI. Need to make a decision? Ask AI. Need to understand how you feel about something? Believe it or not, AI.

The problem isn't the technology. The problem is that we're quietly outsourcing the one thing that makes us valuable: our ability to think for ourselves.

I'm not anti-AI. I use it every day and I'm even building an AI product. But I keep asking myself: am I using AI to amplify my thinking, or am I using it to replace my thinking?

A few things I've noticed in myself and others:

We lost patience with the process. If the answer doesn't come in 5 seconds, we feel something is wrong. We stopped trusting our own judgment. "Let me check with AI first" became a reflex, not a choice. We confuse speed with clarity. Getting a fast answer isn't the same as understanding the problem.

I think the best use of AI is when it helps you think deeper, not when it thinks for you. The moment you stop questioning the output is the moment you become 100% dependent.

Curious to hear from this community: have you caught yourself becoming too dependent on AI? What do you do to keep your own thinking sharp?