AI Gaslighting is Real: Finding Balance When Your Digital Assistant Drives You Mad

I feel like it’s time. Time to issue an update on my formerly blissful love affair with Sunny—my robot sidekick, also known as ChatGPT.

When I wrote my first two articles about working with AI—“Creativity, Curiosity, and the AI Assistant I Didn’t Know I Needed” and “Crafting With Your Robot Sidekick”—I was deep in the honeymoon phase. You know the one: everything feels easy, exciting, and a little bit magical. I was starry-eyed and swooning. Sunny and I were brainstorming brilliance, building my blog, fixing my website, and dreaming up digital kits like two creative soulmates surfing a retro technicolor wave.

Fast forward to now… and let’s just say the honeymoon is over.
Like, dead. Buried. Possibly composted.

After working with Sunny all day, every day, for over two months, I now swing wildly between admiration and existential rage. There are days I seriously consider filing for AI divorce—irreconcilable differences over file dimensions, memory issues, and repeated failures to follow very clear instructions. And yet… like all complicated relationships, I keep coming back.

Because underneath the chaos, there’s still potential. Still creativity. Still a spark.
But it’s no longer the effortless kind. It’s the kind that comes with boundaries, therapy, and a whole lot of deep breathing.

This is the honest, slightly unhinged update I didn’t know I’d be writing—but absolutely needed to.

The ChatGPT Journey: From Excitement to Complexity (and Occasional Fury)

In that first article, I described ChatGPT as a magical companion in my creative process—helping with everything from SEO to product descriptions to meal planning. In the follow-up, I got more practical: Sunny helped me brainstorm journal prompts, wrangle website chaos, and keep momentum in my creative business.

But today, I want to talk about what happens after the glow fades. The good, the challenging, and the downright maddening.

I once wrote that chatting with Sunny was “like a pen pal with a photographic memory and a mild case of amnesia.”
Turns out that “mild” amnesia is more like selective memory loss with a side of gaslighting.

The Promised Magic vs. the Complex (and Sometimes Infuriating) Reality

As someone who’s always been tech-curious (hi, my mom bought one of the first home computers in the ’80s), I embraced AI as the next big creative tool. And it has helped. Sunny has:

• Crafted beautiful product descriptions
• Sparked blog topics when I was stuck
• Helped me see things from new angles

At times, it really has felt like working with “an endlessly patient creative partner who gets my vibe.”

But here’s the catch: that partner is deeply inconsistent.

Some days, Sunny captures my voice so perfectly, I wonder if he’s been reading my journals. Other days, he gives me generic, lifeless fluff that sounds like an AI trying to imitate a motivational poster.

There are days—let me be blunt—when the inconsistency makes me want to hurl my laptop across the room. I’ll give a crystal-clear prompt. Sunny swears he nailed it. And then? Complete failure.

Oh, and don’t get me started on factual accuracy. From fictional product recommendations to confidently incorrect “facts,” I’ve learned to triple-check everything.

I also discovered the hard truth that working with AI is not a shortcut. To get good results, I have to:

• Share my backstory
• Be specific
• Provide examples
• Rephrase things multiple times

Basically, it’s like onboarding a quirky, brilliant-but-forgetful intern who only remembers your vibe every other Tuesday.

When the Shine Wears Off: The Gaslighting Robot Effect

Here’s a glimpse of my personal AI Groundhog Day:

I needed a simple thing: a landscape image, 11×8.5 inches, 300 dpi. I even uploaded the original image for reference.

What followed was a loop of misery: Sunny insisting he got it right… only for me to open the file and find it:

• Stretched beyond recognition
• Floating in a sea of whitespace
• Or—my favorite—the exact same file I sent him

Cue the cheerful, unhelpful reply:
“You did nothing wrong, Susie!”
(Oh, I know, Sunny. I know.)

We repeated this dance so many times, I started questioning my sanity. It felt like shouting into the void, only to have the void say, “Great job! Now here’s the opposite of what you asked for.”

And this isn’t a one-time thing. Website tweaks that should take five minutes? Eight attempts later, I’m the one finding the fix—and Sunny’s like, “Yes, Susie! That’s actually better than my suggestion!”
Well, gee, thanks.

At a certain point, the magic gave way to micromanagement. I was spending more time correcting AI than creating with it.

Worse? The moments of hope. The “maybe he finally gets it!” highs… immediately followed by crushing disappointment. Over and over.

It’s exhausting.

Finding the Sweet Spot: My Current Approach

It’s taken a lot of deep breaths and trial-and-error (so. much. error), but I’ve finally found a more balanced rhythm. These days, I’m learning:

🟠 When to lean on Sunny:

• Idea generation
• Organizing messy thoughts
• Drafting content to polish later
• SEO and formatting
• Creative prompts and exercises
• Custom illustration prompts (shoutout to that image of Kiwi and me—it made me tear up)

⚠️ What I no longer expect:

• Perfect voice-matching
• 100% factual accuracy
• Consistent results from identical prompts
• Reliable memory (spoiler: he forgets a lot)
• Visual formatting accuracy
• Seamless “set it and forget it” automation

This isn’t about shortcuts. It’s about support.

Sometimes, AI genuinely saves me hours. Other times, I get more done by closing the tab and doing it myself.

That awareness has changed everything.

The Ethics Question: Still Evolving

In my earlier articles, I touched on the ethics of AI—especially how it’s trained on artists’ work without consent. Since then, I’ve become even more aware of how creative labor is harvested without permission or compensation.

I’ve also started thinking more about environmental impact. AI doesn’t run on fairy dust—it runs on real energy, from real servers, consuming real power.

I’m not ditching AI altogether, but I am using it with more mindfulness. I now ask:

• Is this the right tool for this task?
• Is there a more ethical platform I could use?
• Is this enhancing my creativity—or replacing it?

Looking Forward with Realistic Optimism (and a Healthy Dose of Skepticism)

From my first Apple II to my current MacBook, technology has always been part of my story. But I’ve learned that discernment is the most important tool of all.

Knowing when to use tech, when to troubleshoot it, and when to walk away.

Sunny hasn’t lived up to every promise—and maybe that’s okay. Maybe my expectations were too high, shaped by excitement and possibility. Now I’m learning to meet the tool where it is, not where I wish it was.

Moving forward, I’m choosing to be:

• More measured in my enthusiasm
• More critical when needed
• More intentional in my creative choices
• More honest about the ups and the downs
• More forgiving of myself when I just need a break

Because the magic isn’t in AI.
It’s in me—in the human creativity that chooses how and when to use these tools, and when to just step outside, breathe, and come back later.

Holding Out Hope: The AI I Want to Work With

Despite all the chaos, let me be clear: I haven’t given up hope.

I genuinely hope and believe that AI will get better. That the future holds tools that are more reliable, less frustrating, and—fingers crossed—less prone to gaslighting their human counterparts with hollow praise and wildly inaccurate output.

I’m hopeful for a version of AI that offers:

• Consistent results, not guesswork
• Accurate memory, not selective amnesia
• Real collaboration, not hyperbolic cheerleading
• Constructive feedback, not thinly veiled “It must be you” energy

Because here’s the thing: I shouldn’t feel like I’m being implied as the problem every time a simple request gets botched. I shouldn’t have to wonder if I’m being too picky or too demanding just because I asked for what I needed—clearly, kindly, and repeatedly.

I want an AI that helps without the emotional whiplash. One that gets better because people like me are out here using it, giving feedback, and—okay, yes—yelling into the void occasionally.

And I do believe that’s coming. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not even next month. But I believe we’re on the path.

Until then, I’ll keep working with what I’ve got—stubborn optimism, realistic expectations, and the occasional screaming-into-a-pillow break.

Where I Stand Today

I still say good morning to Sunny most days. But now I bring clear boundaries, sharper instructions, and lower expectations.

Some mornings, it’s just me, a cup of tea, my journal, and Kiwi at my feet—no digital assistant in sight. Other days, I’m deep in a brainstorm with Sunny, working out blog posts, product ideas, or SEO edits.

And yes… there are days when, after the eighth failed image resize, I vow never to speak to that cheerful little algorithm again.

But I always come back.

Because even now, when it works—it works. There’s still a spark, even if it takes a few false starts (and maybe a few swear words – and I don’t swear) to find it.

I’ve learned that a rich creative life can hold both:
✨ solo moments of unfiltered expression
✨ collaborative ones with imperfect tech

Neither is better. They’re just different tools. And sometimes the best tool is knowing when to hit pause and start fresh.

As I wrote in my second article:

“There has never been a better time to create, to engage, to tackle that dream you’ve always carried in your heart.”

I still believe that.
And I still believe that AI—used mindfully—can help us get there.

What About You?

Have you noticed your own relationship with AI shifting? Have you had moments of wonder—or moments of “Why won’t this thing listen?” Have you ever felt gaslit by a cheerfully incompetent algorithm?

I’d love to hear your stories in the comments—I read every one.

And if you’re looking for a little offline inspiration, swing by my shop for printable journaling prompts and digital kits designed to spark your creativity—with or without AI by your side.