Askholes and Low-Effort AI Answers

Summary

Dennis Forbes argues that replies such as “ChatGPT says…” or “Gemini says…” are sometimes defensive responses to people who make giving advice unpleasant. He uses “askhole” for someone who turns a voluntary opinion or contribution of expertise into a liability, obligation, or source of blame. In his account, asking for an opinion, choosing a different option, or seeking several opinions is not itself a problem; the problem begins when the asker uses the response to force arguments, demand that advisers defend their views against third parties, or assign responsibility for later outcomes. Forbes gives examples involving technology choices such as Rust versus Go, casual product recommendations, and coworkers who later cite a colleague’s suggestion as the cause of criticism. He also describes people who ask questions without genuinely caring about the answer, making a sincere response feel wasted and encouraging a low-effort chatbot reply instead. The essay treats these chatbot phrases as a social boundary-setting mechanism rather than evidence that AI has replaced thoughtful advice. Forbes acknowledges that the argument is a personal hypothesis based on experience, not a study, and says that some opinion exchanges are appropriate in professional relationships even when casual conversations are not.