r/OpenAI • u/nian2326076 • 1d ago
Question Why do some people with ADHD find AI tools so useful?
I've heard some people with ADHD say AI tools make parts of their work easier. I'm curious which parts help, because "AI improves productivity" is too vague to tell me much.
Is it breaking a large, fuzzy task into a first step? Getting feedback right away? Having somewhere to put an idea before you lose your train of thought? Or simply getting a tedious task out of the way?
Job applications are one concrete example of that last category: application autofill can reduce the repeated typing across forms. I'm talking about removing busywork here, not treating ADHD or assuming the same tool works for everyone.
If you use ChatGPT or similar tools, what does your actual workflow look like? I'd also like to hear when they make things worse—more tabs, more distractions, or time spent checking an answer that wasn't reliable.
Real experiences would be helpful. No need to share anything medical you're uncomfortable posting.
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u/gwwwhhhaaattt 1d ago
Immediate feedback and I can jump around from project to project. If I have a thought I’m able to ask it more and more. When I have a project I can get AI to start working through it even when my brain is working somewhere else. I can also gather as much information I can and brain dump it all for it to organize all my thoughts.
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u/FirstEvolutionist 1d ago
It can be a cognitive prosthetic for executive functions.
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u/thegoldengoober 1d ago
That's really well put and concise description of this.
I'm going to be thinking about it a lot.
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u/Aznshorty13 1d ago
I dont have ADHD, so maybe I dont have the picture.
But doesnt this apply to everybody?
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u/Away_Clue_7320 18h ago
As someone with ADHD and a nonstop insatiable hunger to create, I absolutely love having somewhere for every idea to have a dynamic starting point as opposed to just paper or an empty document where may be its final resting place. Seeing the MVP of them in as little as 10-15 minutes with proper prompting scratches an itch I’ve had since I could count.
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u/rufio313 6h ago
This describes it perfectly for me. Having something to look at and start picking at and adding on to is so much easier than starting on a blank canvas.
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u/YoreWelcome 1d ago
because sometimes, a lot of times, my brain demands to see what Tom as the Hank Engine would look like
and ai delivers in seconds
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u/RedditCraig 1d ago
The folks I work with, autistic and ADHD, find executive functioning benefits in AI tools, talking aloud to AI and staying with a thought for longer + consistent periods, chunking content into small batches, supporting task initiation (getting started on a task by having AI provide a gentle 'ramp' to ease you into the cognitive demands of a task), creating custom software hacks to help work processes adapt to your individual neurodiverse profile.. so many benefits.
Disclaimer:
I created/run www.theuniversalsandpit.org for the inclusive education benefits of AI re: autism and ADHD :)
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u/Specialist_Gooner69 1d ago
I tend to have piss-ass little issues with software here and there and AI helps me solve the piss-ass little issues without overbearingly consuming my time.
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u/MarlonHerror 1d ago
Hi, for my part there are two main sides with AI being helpful in my daily tasks.
1st : breaking down a task into manageable to dos (especially cooking during evenings)
2nd : the chatting aspect, this create an interractive / reactive behaviour, reseting interest and attention regularly (better than searching infos, reading and filtering pertinent ones before getting into what you were looking for where usially motivation is depleted).
Issue in general for me though : it's easy to find thousands topics to chat with AI about instead of doing the hardwork.
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u/fyn_world 15h ago
HI! ADHDer here. AI was like finding that person you would never find. Jump from topic to topic to topic without the other person being annoyed. Not only that, they know about everything. Dig deep into whatever no matter how annoying and AI doesn't care.
Build all of the projects you've had in mind fast, automate all of the soul draining shit normies don't care for but that puts you on hold immediately as an ADHD person.
ADHD worst problem is executive dysfunction. This invisible wall that doesn't allow you to do the things you have to do. It fucking sucks. AI helps a lot to beat that motherfucker.
I could go on. But for ADHD, AI is life.
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u/thongjesus 10h ago
I would argue just the amount of responses here represent why we are fit for the technology. Nothing has had the attention span to listen to, discuss, let alone enable the hyperobsessive aspirations I carry around everyday.
I'm pretty sure, if I keep using AI tools to improve my life, I will end up running the world.
Of course I don't believe that, but that's the power I feel. I've been staying up 24 hours straight 7 days a week for weeks. My health is deteriorating. Probably need a real break, but I have four premium accounts, two with openai, 2 with anthropic.
I've built in AI server and completely linked all of my company's operations from meetings to projects to quality systems. 10 years worth of notes now indexed and immediately searchable behind an ai-powered help desk.
I can't stop.
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u/fyn_world 9h ago edited 8h ago
Do take care of your health! But absolutely man, it's like they gave us nitro. I don't know what will happen but I think it kind of tilted the possibilities for us
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u/thongjesus 8h ago
I got pulled over by the cops at 4:00 a.m. for having a suspended license... Paperwork violation, long story... While sitting on the curb I explained to the cop AI is like crack.
It was the wrong word to use.
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u/OutsideMenu6973 1d ago
We like jumping around between projects but never finishing kinda like what happens when you use AI lets you do that moar faster
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u/kargaen 1d ago
Full disclosure: I have no idea if I have ADHD, never cared to check... but your post just resonated with me, because I find AI immensely helpful.
I have so many random ideas that I can't finish either due to time, concentration or external dependencies. Before AI I could talk to the higher ups about these ideas and get approval, but fail because I was limited. With AI I can either finish it 100% on my own or I can build a prototype, PoC or MVP that I can hand over to IT and they build it, because I can actually show them what I want.
I often tell the AI that I have ADHD, because it reduces lengths of replies by a factor 90% or more, instead of the endless walls of text.
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u/oZiix 15h ago edited 15h ago
Also resonates and I have no idea if I have adhd. I wonder if my custom instructions set points to adhd information processing. 🤔
I was in the military and I just know AI and agentic workflows make sense to me because its delegation with tight control. So I operate well with that.
My very first prompts to Claude and Codex were to ensure the foundational information flow was set up as experts in the field advise. I also told them I get lost in the weeds with too much information and can be distracted by optimization or I'll iterate and retest with marginal improvement because I hate high friction, like optionality, and live off low regret choices until its time to execute. I never want to make a decision without feeling like I did enough due diligence and missed something.
So Claude and Codex they both advised a closure threshold instructionsthat they remind me of subtly.
Closure threshold is reached for xyz then a concise reason why further optimization yields little results. That is enough for me to stop chasing optimization.
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u/cmockett 1d ago
It’s the ultimate ELI5 - not just for tasks but for conversations that my brain interprets 10 different ways
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u/mostar8 21h ago
I have AuADHD and my issue is getting going (and then stopping, but that is a separate thing).
For me I find AI interesting and that helps with the motivation; the fact I can tackle multiple projects at a time but using chatGPT to prompt me (I was using tasks and Work to track what I had actually done Vs what I need to do, now I have started using Dots as well) and interestingly it is helping overcome the procrastination. It's generally boring and repetitive tasks that I hate in particular and chargpt knows this and we have worked on automating a lot of the boring day today stuff, plus keeping me on track on bigger projects.
Next I'm moving onto my inbox and tidying it up, then I am getting Watson to look at tasks coming in and getting it to see what it can do for me with the VM, then what we need to work on together/ with the local machine north the VM and then what I need to do myself (though quite often it just needs more background and knowledge in my head and then it can move to another list).
My productivity has gone up dramatically and, more importantly, I no longer feel so overwhelmed by everything I need to do.
I quite often work on 2-3 things at the same time using chatgpt, and that means my mind is constantly stimulated between the prompts and responses, and so I don't stop and start, getting distracted and not forgetting part of the tasks etc. Once all the unread does have moved to read I know I am done.
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u/GumdropGlimmer 19h ago
This is a useful topic for discussion but when you link a tool it would be helpful to say you’re conducting market research for it.
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u/52electrons 17h ago
Goldfish brain. 🧠. I remember something and start Cowork on it then I remember something else and start Cowork on that in a different tab and then I forget something so I ask ChatGPT/Claude what I forgot.
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u/ThatZeroRed 13h ago
Personally, my job consistent of many small things I hate doing, occasion big things that are challenging and then a bunch of random stuff I like to make my problem, because its interesting and in my wheelhouse to solve.
For years, the small things I hate would take up the bulk of my time. I'd try to make systems to ease burdens, or advocate for process change to alter the nature of work and how different parts of the company works together, to eliminate some of the legwork, but no matter what form it takes, it feels like there will always be unsatisfying stuff, that I don't think it worth doing, but somebody does, that takes more time than I think its worth.
With AI no being a tool afforded to me, the small things are trivial. Leg work can be automated, long meetings and notes can be prompted for quick insights, creating visuals to satisfy the people in charge can be produced and iterated on rapidly and with very little effort. Basically, the stuff that used to annoy me, and eat through my mental bandwidth, is now able to take up a fraction of my mental space. I'm still doing the little things, but those are on the side, and feel like they take a proper ratio of my effort, for what I believe they are worth. Meaning I have significantly more time to connect with people, work on side projects, work on building things to solve problems I identify (instead of just saying it, and hoping someone else eventually will.
Basically, AI makes my job more satisfying. I have far more freedom to engage with whatever catches my interest, and I don't need to feel bad about it. Before, I would get locked in on something and detour an entire day. and the result could turn out incredible...but then the stuff I NEEDED to do and specifically am hired to do, would not get done. I'd then feel guilty for wasting my day, maybe work extra hours to trudge through the BS I didn't want to do.
Another thing, as well: I'm awful at keeping organized, in general. I make notes and reminders all over the place, that I don't consistently remember to even check. When I do remember, I don't always recall where I put the related info or idea. While its not a "good" solve, I can have a notes app that AI can connect to, as well as my calander, Slack, task management system, meeting AI notetaker, etc. Then I can schedule checks for certain info to give me overviews on stuff to be aware of and plan for, to help sort out where my attention needs to go. Sometimes, its as simple as "Check this, this and this place for any info on x, from the last 2 weeks." Then I go do something else, while it checks. Sometimes I then forget and go work on other stuff for a while, but when I come back, boom, there is my answer, which then lets me resume the other thing I was needing to get done. Other times I'll need to make a presentation but its based on massive amounts of information. I have stuff documented and organized and in my head, I know the general messages I want to come across, but translating it to a proper format can take hours. Instead, I can tell it what to look at, what my goals are, specific criteria I need met, and let it cruise. I then just need to review for accuracy, nit pick visual choices/UX and make adjustments until I find it up to my standards. It's like having an assistant, but I don't have to feel guilty about wasting its time. I think that's another thing, in general. I find I tend to be quite empathetic, but also very self sacrificing. As such, I have a hard time delegating certain things, without good reason. I want to respect peoples time and energy. I do not like grinding people down on BS. I'm not sure if its correlated to my ADHD, but I overanalyze these things, and how I can come across. I often edit Slack Messages I send, because I re-read and realize how a message might not come across properly, or it doesn't have the right tone, or I'm being too verbose and wasting their time, etc. So for instances where subject matter is not something I want to waste time or attention of my peers for, I can throw it at AI. I don't feel bad making a bot do busy work, nor if I change my mind and want changes that contradicts what I just asked for. This means the times I am connecting with my peers, its almost always meaningful, either because we are engaging in something worthwhile, or we are just casually catching up and being human.
Sorry this turned into a massive wall. Not sure if it matters or helps anybody, but figured I'd share. Didn't bother re-reading to fix mistakes, so sorry for my inevitable grammer errors, throughout. lol
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u/Ormusn2o 1d ago
If I start a task, it's unknown if I finish it. If I ask AI to do a task, it will generally finish it if it's capable of finishing it.
It is also more engaging, at least the way I use it, bouncing ideas off of AI or another person in real life makes me way more likely to finish the task.
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u/zatsnotmyname 1d ago
It can handle drudgery with too many steps, that would make me get distracted or give up when something didn't go right.
When doing my game projects, I can keep my mind at the same high-level aesthetic and game design mindset, rather than jumping between that and code, as I have to do when coding manually.
It also lets me tackle things I never would have had the patience to work through. Things I have done in the last week or so : mini-pc setup w/ linux to be home server w/ scanner backup folder, ad blocker, server for peleton app. Peleton tablet app, run a separate tablet on my peleton that reads the rpm, resistance, etc. set up smart plug to auto-shut off peleton after my ride. tablet app tracks my ride streaks.
Also prototyped 4 new game ideas. Cargo idle game. Missile command incremental game. monument valley meets book organization game, online espionage look & feel tests.
It really is a super-power. I could have done any one of these things over a week or two each, but it lets me explore many areas and get far enough to know if there is something there.
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u/Suspicious-Cloud404 1d ago
Four very useful things:
Drop some input and ask AI to help you understand the facts, when your own emotional filters are overloaded. It can help you to streamline the situation.
Write a message, ask AI to organize messy thoughts and shorten it or add details where relevant. Ask AI to analyze how the recipient will react to your message and to find tune the output.
Drop your to-do list and use AI to prioritize and plan the steps. It can work as your coach to achieve your targets.
I love that song... What were we talking about? ;)
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u/saltyourhash 1d ago
It can help me break down a complicated topic like building out an entire networking plan with equipment, servers, services, ports, vlans, etc.
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u/King_Hammer 1d ago
Im in the Process to build a second Brain with Hermes and Obsidian. Im vibecodung an app that connection to said brain and Lists me Tasks on Desktop to do today. It will remember when i did what and in term of Chores it will Rotatw then through so i dont get vaccuming every day
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u/Morazma 1d ago
/u/gwwwhhhaaattt and /u/LiminalWanderings summed it up really well for how it's helped me.
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u/Briskfall 1d ago
Disclaimer: I'm autistic, but LLMs always of me as ADHD -- not sure if it meets your standards. But I felt like giving my take. And i'm hopeful that something adjacent might still qualify.
Answer: Because I don't have to pick my words as carefully in contrast to when I converse with humans. Like this, it let me be more high fidelity to what I felt at that exact moment, not having to worry about repercussions.
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u/Suntzu_AU 23h ago
I'm GenX, and I think I've got ADHD. I find AI tools to be amazing and offer huge productivity boosts.
I'll be running three completely different jobs separately and having conversations about all three at different times and I can keep track with it. It's kind of how my brain works.
It means I can get an incredible amount of work done.
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u/ProbioticOnARobotic 23h ago
It's great for people with executive dysfunction. AI is good at systematizing things, the very thing we suck at.
It's an extra brain that never forgets (provided you stay in the same context.) That means when I'm assembling something complicated with a 100 requirements I can fire them off as they come to me and it remembers and organizes them all. I'm actually building this app with all these moving parts and it helps me track them all, document them, make decisions about them (often contingencies I'm not even thinking about) and so much more. It also tells me when there are conflicts between requirements and that is so invaluable.
For more mundane stuff, I had an interview the other day and my note-taking was complete chaos. No full sentences, no breaks between thoughts, everything running together on one line with no punctuation. AI cleaned all that mess up and translated my thoughts to English and divided it up into overviews. I took SO many notes. It would've been a nightmare to parse all of that and organize it. It did it instantly and I only had to correct a couple of things (which it flagged for me because it was unsure.)
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u/Maleficent_Mud_7819 20h ago
When I inevitably lose all context of an entire conversation, I can just ask what we talked about lol it's interactive notes. I don't have to be organized with how I write them down either.
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u/Odd-Disk-2595 19h ago
I wrote my Agents.md to be tidy in structure which makes keeping track easier, also made it do epistemic iteration instead of hierachical in thinking of wanting every step fully precise before the next, so that increased engineering capacity a lot. Basically gave Chat ADHD as well which helped, other thing is denser explanations in a style i like is good for me giving feedback and ideas etc for attention as well. Would recommend reading Brandom work on language for engineers working with AI in general
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u/WeedWrangler 19h ago
Double edged sword: I love it and it suits me and I’m deeply, deeply addicted to it on a way I never was w social media.
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u/fluffy_serval 17h ago
I can't be medicated in any of the typical ways because of a heart condition that came up later in life so I've had to literally relearn how to deal with many things. It was like slipping back into my teenage-to-young-adult's brain's executive system with the responsibilities of an reasonably accomplished adult with all the typical adult things going on. In other words, it's been a total and utter win in every way.
Overall, ChatGPT is a quasi-freeform history of what I've been working on that I don't have to organize very much a priori. I just have Projects created for the ongoing stuff and assets inside the projects. Keep it simple. Everything is always available, and it has enough history of our interactions that it just "gets it" when I ask for things or describe something. I can ask it to remind me to do things; I can flit from task to task and pick up literally exactly where I left off; I have it do daily tasks that I need to bootstrap workdays and otherwise make my life run; I have it nag me to do things I consistently forget for whatever absurd biological coincidence, sparing a human from feeling as if they have to do the job because they depend on me in some way.
This last point can't be overstated: these benefits without any of the negative human interactions that can happen over and over again, e.g. when I ask for the same piece of information I definitely should have already retained, three times. It can truly improve the lives of other people around me because they no longer have to manage me in weird, annoying, and typically unnecessary ways, for somebody who is me without ADHD.
It really feels like a set of functions my brain had while medicated, and doesn't now that I can't be. Almost like a superpower, just like medication did. But to people without this particular invisible quagmire to permanently exist within, I am simply producing excellent work again, responsible again, more thoughtful, and more "with it", along with, you know, my personality, but without the tainted aura of otherwise permanent ADHD anxiety.
I actually think were I still medicated I could've lowered the dosage and relied more on ChatGPT (or the like) to greater benefit overall.
And no, I did not use one whit of AI to write this. Lol.
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u/ZioniteSoldier 15h ago
> Is it breaking a large, fuzzy task into a first step? Getting feedback right away? Having somewhere to put an idea before you lose your train of thought? Or simply getting a tedious task out of the way?
Yes.
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u/DrHerbotico 11h ago
It goes wherever we want for as long as we want and can keep multiple conversations/projects going simultaneously
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u/das_war_ein_Befehl 9h ago
I can offload bullshit rote work.
To understand adhd, imagine your brain has 1,000 thinking tokens and every time you do anything consciously you spend 1 token. And unlike your normal folks where lots of stuff is on autopilot, basic things cost a token.
Like you may not think about brushing your teeth but that is 1 token. Multiply that by however many decisions you make subconsciously.
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u/phantomeye 5h ago
I love to do little tools, to help me do my job.
If I have to do something by hand or need a specific app, thats not free? I just create it.
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u/HasteyRetreat 3h ago
I am a software engineer with ADHD. I have a decade and a half of experience in tech, but I'm also a digital artist, and Dnd dm.
I use AI to learn new skills and to program, but not to verify critical information or as a substitute for my own taste or creativity.
The conversational interface bypasses my executive disfunction.
The helper organizes my thoughts and tracks steps intelligently such that I can stay on the productive task while trivial, repetitive and distracting details are handled.
I don't have to pause or context switch to have questions answered.
It can swiftly apply known solutions to known problems, and excels at small rigidly specified tasks, leaving me with the engaging, interesting tasks that feed my need for novelty and problem solving.
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u/blessed-- 18h ago
ive never heard anyone say that. only ppl who are obsessed with characterizing ADHD
people dont think about things differently just because they have ADHD, they're just pretending
of course workflows look the same as anyone else than this AI slop question
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u/oZiix 15h ago edited 15h ago
I think it might be less about characterizing how they think with a label but more so finding out how they think to tailor information processes better toward themselves without the work. You tell the model what your cognitive style is and it tries to adhere to that.
Similar to the idea that not all people respond well to one type of training so communication should be tailored where possible to get the best performance from a person. One person might want to someone to be hard on them and very critical. Another responds better to a soft approach.
Even finding the characterization is helpful it allows you to use one word regardless of model to tell it how to better work with you instead of having to be ultra specific.
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u/LiminalWanderings 1d ago
Executive function disorders make it hard to start tasks, keep details in mind, plan steps, judge time, and prioritize.
AI tools can perform the missing functions on demand. They accept disorganized input, respond immediately while motivation lasts, turn vague tasks into concrete first steps, and can be asked anything without embarrassment.
Planners, to-do apps, and other tools, by contrast, still require the organizing skills folks with ADHD and similar disorders lack.
Examples. Turning a brain dump into an ordered plan; breaking a large amorphous task into small steps; drafting an avoided email; picking between options when stuck. For me, even planning meals places a surprisingly heavy cognitive load on me, which stresses and exhausts my brain - having AI tools help is a massive relief.