The other day, I caught myself doing something a little funny. I started eavesdropping in my neighborhood coffee shop. (Then again, I’m a writer, so it’s practically required by law to be a fly on the wall when it comes to the conversations of strangers.)

In between Spotify playlists, I heard the following gem that ended up inspiring this article.

“I had already made up my mind. I even knew what I wanted to do next.”

“And?”

“And then I opened ChatGPT.”

I bit my lip so I wouldn’t roll my eyes into the back of my skull. Let me preface this with saying I’m not judging a random person for using or not using a language learning model. It’s not my business how often or infrequently a person engages with such a tool. Because, simply, it made me realize something.

The anonymous woman I Harriet the Spied on, didn’t need an answer. She already had that with her own intuition. But, she wanted validation too.

What we’re really seeking

Lately, AI feels like it’s everywhere. It’s a plugin in software, it’s a pop-up suggestion in my email platform, it’s a language learning model, it summarizes meetings, recommends restaurants, plans vacations, interprets dreams, reads tarot cards, explains birth charts, and even mirrors therapy-like conversations at two o’clock in the morning when our thoughts won’t settle down. Somewhere along the way, asking a chatbot has become as instinctive as opening Google once was.

“Somewhere along the way, asking a chatbot has become as instinctive as opening Google once was.”

I’ve found myself wondering what that habit is doing to us.

I don’t believe technology is inherently bad. Quite the opposite. But, I also pride myself on healthy skepticism mixed with a persistent desire to create things by and for myself. My ethos is to approach AI with curiosity paired with healthy boundaries that favor self-sufficiency.

I also happen to love tools that encourage self-reflection. I’ve spent years reading tarot professionally, on psychic phone lines and through live web chats, and I’ve watched firsthand how meaningful guidance can help someone feel seen during moments of uncertainty.

But after thousands of readings, I noticed something surprising. Of course, many people scheduled readings with me because they wanted predictions. (I use tarot readers and astrologers for that, too.) On top of future telling, my clients craved permission. Permission to leave a relationship. Permission to take the new job. Permission to take a risk. Permission to pursue stability. Permission to be seen. Permission to believe the feeling they already had.

The cards rarely gave people information they didn’t already possess. More often, they quelled the noise long enough for someone to hear themselves. Which has me thinking about artificial intelligence. Because maybe the question isn’t strictly whether AI is replacing our intuition.

I’m asking something more timeless: How do we use external guidance without abandoning our own inner authority?

“How do we use external guidance without abandoning our own inner authority?”

Humans have always looked outside themselves for answers. We’ve consulted oracles, priests, therapists, astrologers, tarot readers, self-help books, Google searches, Reddit threads, and now large language models. The technology changes but the impulse doesn’t.

We seek reassurance and validation just as quickly as the intuitive spark appears or fades. And perhaps more than anything else, we want certainty. That is completely human. Technology isn’t diminishing our intuition but it’s revealing how uncomfortable we are with uncertainty.

Yes, people want predictions and validation. But, they also want certainty too. AI simply happens to be the newest oracle as of late that masquerades as an illusion of certainty. 🐚

We’ve always looked outside ourselves

Long before ChatGPT interpreted birth charts or tarot apps pulled digital cards, humans sought guidance from systems that promised meaning. Ancient Greeks traveled to Delphi to consult the Oracle. The I Ching has offered symbolic wisdom for thousands of years. People have turned to astrology, religion, therapists, trusted elders, and best friends over coffee.

“Long before ChatGPT interpreted birth charts or tarot apps pulled digital cards, humans sought guidance from systems that promised meaning.”

I’m less focused on the humans using this system and engaging with “AI slop” than seeing people reinforce their thought spirals again and again. And again. In a market that prioritizes urgency and reactivity, it’s no surprise — to me — that society is doubling down on apps and tech to commodify our decision-making skills. If anything, I think this is another symptom of overconsumption.

After all, seeking guidance is a profoundly human experience.

What feels different today is the speed at which answers arrive and how many of them are available. A question that might have once lingered in a journal, unfolded in therapy, or slowly revealed itself through lived experience can now be answered in seconds by an app or chatbot. Whether those answers are accurate is almost beside the point. They’re immediate. And immediacy can feel incredibly comforting when we’re uncomfortable with uncertainty.

“Immediacy can feel incredibly comforting when we’re uncomfortable with uncertainty.”

It isn’t surprising that we’ve begun outsourcing more and more of our decision-making to technology. We already ask streaming platforms what to watch, algorithms what to buy, and navigation apps where to drive. Wellness apps tell us how well we slept. Mood trackers suggest how we’re feeling. AI tells us what our dream meant, whether we should leave the relationship, and what our tarot spread is trying to say.

If anything, it feels like another expression of our larger culture of consumption. We consume information the way we consume products: always searching for the next thing that promises clarity. But intuition rarely works that way.But intuition rarely works that way. 

Okay, so…what is intuition exactly?

Intuition has long been surrounded by an air of mysticism, but psychologists often describe it in much simpler terms. Rather than being magical or irrational, intuition is our brain’s ability to rapidly process patterns, memories, emotions, and experiences below the level of conscious awareness. Before we can explain why something feels right — or wrong — our nervous system is already gathering information.

“Intuition is our brain’s ability to rapidly process patterns, memories, emotions, and experiences below the level of conscious awareness.”

That’s why you sometimes know a room feels tense before anyone has spoken. Or why you immediately trust one person while feeling hesitant around another. Or why you’ve caught yourself saying, “I just had a feeling.”

Psychologist and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman described this kind of rapid pattern recognition as System 1 thinking: fast, automatic, intuitive cognition that develops through lived experience. While it can be influenced by bias, it also allows us to navigate the world without consciously analyzing every decision.

The trouble begins when we stop treating intuition as a conversation and start treating external tools as the final authority.

“Trouble begins when we stop treating intuition as a conversation and start treating external tools as the final authority.”

Instead of asking ourselves, “What do I think this means?,” we ask an app. Instead of sitting with uncertainty for a day or two, we generate another response. Then another. And another. Ironically, every new answer can make us feel a little less certain because certainty has a funny way of expanding its own appetite.

And maybe this behavior is becoming less about AI and its existence and more about ambiguity tolerance. 

Research has found that people with a low tolerance for ambiguity are more likely to engage in reassurance-seeking, repetitive checking, and excessive information gathering in an attempt to reduce anxiety. The relief, however, is often temporary. Before long, another question appears. Rather than resolving uncertainty, the cycle can strengthen our dependence on external answers while making it harder to trust our own internal compass.

Coming back to ourselves

I’ve been thinking a lot about the irony of all this. As someone who has spent years reading tarot professionally, I don’t believe guidance is inherently dangerous. Quite the opposite. Sometimes an outside perspective is exactly what we need. Therapy can change a life. A trusted friend can reflect something we’ve been unable to see.

The difference, I think, is remembering where the final decision lives. It’s not in a chatbot, or even a human-crafted tarot spread. It’s in us.

“Maybe intuition isn’t a mystical gift reserved for a select few. Maybe it’s a relationship built slowly through practice.”

Maybe intuition isn’t a mystical gift reserved for a select few. Maybe it’s a relationship built slowly through practice, curiosity, and the willingness to sit with uncertainty a little longer than feels comfortable.

Technology can absolutely be part of that relationship. It can offer language, perspective, even community. But I hope we continue to use these tools as tools rather than mouthpieces, constructs rather than commanders.

Intuition isn’t disappearing. It’s waiting for us to come back and ask ourselves one more question: What do I already know to be true?

Stephanie Valente is a Contributing Editor at The Good Trade. She is a copywriter and editor covering wellness, commerce, lifestyle — and more — for publications like Brooklyn Magazine. Based in Brooklyn, she’s often writing poetry, getting lost in a book, or hanging out with her dog.