AI as Permission-Giver Erodes Agency

Treating AI as a constant approver—'is this okay?'—shifts users from gut-checking to permission-seeking. As people offload small social and moral judgments (messages, flirting, birthday notes) to chatbots, they train themselves to distrust their own instincts, creating a dependency dynamic akin to a controlling partner. — It reframes AI safety and product design around preserving self-trust, not just accuracy or harm filters, with implications for youth mental health and autonomy.