I’ll admit it.

When artificial intelligence first exploded into public conversation, I wasn’t exactly an early adopter.

In fact, I was probably sitting comfortably on what I now jokingly describe as my “judgemental high horse.”

Like many people, I had concerns.

What would AI mean for creativity? For learning? For jobs? For ethics? I worried that we were rushing headfirst into something without fully understanding the consequences.

So I largely stayed away from it.

Until curiosity got the better of me.

Rather than deciding AI was either wonderful or terrible, I realised there was another option.

I could simply become curious.

 

From scepticism to experimentation

Over the last few months, I’ve attended a couple of AI training events and started experimenting with different tools myself.

I wasn’t looking for shortcuts.

I was looking to understand.

As a psychologist, curiosity is one of the most valuable skills we have. We don’t learn by defending our existing opinions; we learn by testing them.

The more I experimented, the more I realised something surprising.

AI wasn’t replacing my thinking.

It was helping me think more clearly.

 

Thinking out loud

This blog is actually a perfect example.

Rather than sitting in front of a blank screen trying to write the “perfect” first sentence, I’m out walking my dog and using a voice dictation tool to talk through my ideas, as if I’m chatting with a friend.

For me, that’s often where my thoughts become clearer.

Instead of wrestling with a blinking cursor, I can think out loud.

The technology isn’t creating my ideas.

It’s simply helping me organise them.

 

Executive functioning is hard work

One of the biggest challenges many neurodivergent people experience isn’t intelligence.

It’s executive functioning.

Planning.

Prioritising.

Starting tasks.

Remembering things.

Breaking large jobs into manageable pieces.

Holding multiple ideas in mind at once.

Many people don’t realise just how much mental energy these everyday tasks require.

When you’re constantly using that energy just to stay organised, there’s less left for creativity, relationships, problem-solving and simply enjoying life.

 

What if AI isn’t replacing us?

During one of the training sessions, I found myself looking at the demonstrations through a completely different lens.

Instead of asking,

“What can AI do?”

I started asking,

“What barriers could AI remove?”

 

That felt like a much more interesting question.

Could it help someone organise their thoughts before writing an email?

Break an overwhelming project into manageable steps?

Summarise a meeting they struggled to process?

Turn scattered ideas into a structured plan?

Reduce the cognitive load involved in everyday life?

The more I thought about it, the more excited I became.

 

Perhaps the problem was never the person

One of the ideas I’ve explored in previous blogs is that neurodiversity isn’t simply about deficits.

Increasingly, many psychologists are moving away from asking, “What’s wrong with this person?” and instead asking, “How well does the environment fit the way this person’s brain works?”

For decades we’ve largely expected neurodivergent people to adapt to systems designed with neurotypical minds in mind.

Perhaps technology is beginning to move in the opposite direction.

Perhaps the environment is starting to adapt to us.

If that’s true, AI isn’t simply another productivity tool.

It could become an accessibility tool.

Not because it changes the person’s brain.

But because it reduces some of the unnecessary barriers that the brain encounters every day.

 

It’s not without risks

None of this means AI should be used uncritically.

It can get things wrong.

It raises important ethical and privacy questions.

It should never replace professional judgement, critical thinking or genuine human connection.

But those concerns don’t stop me feeling optimistic.

Like any tool, its value depends on how we choose to use it.

 

A different future

As someone who works with many high-achieving adults who constantly feel they’re trying harder than everyone else just to keep up, I find this genuinely exciting.

Not because AI will magically solve ADHD.

Not because technology is the answer to everything.

But because for the first time in a long time, it feels like we’re creating tools that adapt to different ways of thinking, rather than expecting different thinkers to constantly adapt to the world around them.

And perhaps that’s where the real opportunity lies.

Not in making neurodivergent people more like everyone else.

But in creating a world that’s a little more flexible for everyone.

 

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