Our collective AI vibe shift and the real cost of ‘free’ ChatGPT
The vibe has shifted, we are using these tools now, daily.
My colleague was recounting a moment on the train this week that I can’t get out of my head: every single person she could see had ChatGPT open on their laptops. Not Google, or another website or email. ChatGPT. The vibe has shifted, we are using these tools now, daily.
In this week’s episode, I sit down with Gen Z writer and editor for The Atlantic, Lila Shroff. We discuss what it’s like to grow up and live in this AI-saturated world. She introduces this sharp, sticky idea: the Gen Z lifestyle subsidy.
What does that mean? It’s the idea that AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are being rolled out fast and free -- especially on college campuses -- right at the moment when young people are forming their sense of self, their study habits and their worldview.
It echoes what many of us experienced a decade ago with the so-called millennial lifestyle subsidy -- cheap rideshares, boutique fitness, meal pickup apps. Venture-funded ease, subsidized convenience.
But for Gen Z, Lila makes a compelling case that this isn’t just about access to new tools. It’s about shaping a generation’s cognitive and emotional development. And it raises some very real questions on our over-reliance on these tools before we fully understand them.
This conversation also opens up a new thread for The Intersect where we’re exploring how AI is impacting education, privacy and what it means to live our lives today with this tooling. Because this isn’t just a Gen Z thing. It’s an all-of-us thing.
Here is Lila Shroff. ✦
