The Heaviest AI Users Aren't Who You Think

Millions of people use ChatGPT every day. For work, for writing, for quick searches. But among these daily users, there's a population that stands out. People who don't use it to "work faster," but to organize their day, decode an email from their boss, decide what to eat tonight, or structure an idea spinning on repeat in their head.

These users often share a trait most people don't identify: they're neurodivergent.

Not a productivity hack, a cognitive prosthetic

Sophie has ADHD. She created "Mia 6.0," a customized version of ChatGPT that knows her wardrobe contents, her favorite recipes, and her tendency to treat everything as equally urgent. When she wakes up in the morning, she asks Mia what to wear. Not out of laziness. Because that type of decision, mundane as it seems, can freeze someone with ADHD for 20 minutes.

"For me, either nothing is important, or everything is important at the same time," Sophie explains in a report by La Presse.

Michelle has ADHD and suspected autism spectrum disorder. She uses "Élan," her customized ChatGPT, to decode subtext in messages she receives. She used to reread conversations 10 times, "cycling through every possible interpretation." In AI, she found a translator between how her brain works and how the neurotypical world operates.

"I've always had enormous difficulty in social relationships. If I'd had this tool earlier, maybe things would have been different."

These aren't isolated cases. A study published in January 2026 analyzed 3,984 posts from autistic individuals on Reddit, X, and Tumblr. Researchers identified four primary uses of ChatGPT among these users: offloading executive functions, regulating emotions, translating neurotypical communication, and validating autistic identity.

AI does for the brain what glasses do for eyes

When you have ADHD, starting a task can feel like hitting an invisible wall. Your brain knows what it needs to do, but the start signal never fires. Neuropsychologists call this an executive function deficit: planning, prioritizing, working memory, impulse control.

AI doesn't cure the deficit. But it can compensate.

One ADHD user in the study explains: "ChatGPT is great for executive dysfunction because it allows you to outsource your executive functions to a language model. You no longer have to worry about initiation or structuring. You dump your ideas in a mess, and it kicks off the process for you."

Emma Campbell, a neuropsychologist, confirms this observation: she now recommends ChatGPT to certain ADHD patients for organization, particularly students.

The most accurate analogy is glasses. No one criticizes a nearsighted person for "cheating" because they wear corrective lenses. AI serves the same function for people whose brains work differently: it compensates, it doesn't replace.

Palantir recruits these profiles at $200,000 per year

Alex Karp, Palantir's CEO, launched a "Neurodivergent Fellowship" in December 2025 after a video of him unable to sit still went viral. The program recruits ADHD, autistic, or dyslexic profiles without requiring a university degree or medical diagnosis. Salary: up to $200,000 per year. Over 2,000 people applied.

His thesis: in a world where AI excels at the average (synthesizing, rephrasing, extrapolating the probable), brains that think "sideways" become a strategic advantage. AI captures what's statistically coherent. Neurodivergence, by definition, doesn't follow the most probable path.

15 to 20% of the global population is neurodivergent. That's one person in five.

The flip side: when the prosthetic becomes a crutch

The 2026 study doesn't just document benefits. It identifies three risks inseparable from the advantages:

Automated masking. AI allows autistic people to "translate" their communication to make it more neurotypical. Useful, but potentially destructive. As one researcher notes: AI can end up erasing autistic identity instead of supporting it. Social masking is already exhausting when done consciously. Automating it through AI doesn't make it less harmful.

Dependency. If AI becomes the only way to start a task, decode a message, or regulate an emotion, what happens when the tool isn't available? A 2025 study shows that long-term dependency on AI tools can reduce critical thinking and limit human interactions.

Bias reinforcement. ChatGPT, as we showed in our article on sycophancy, tends to validate the user. For an autistic person trying to understand a social situation, systematically receiving validation can reinforce incorrect interpretations.

What this changes for everyone

AI wasn't designed for neurodivergent people. But they're the ones who found its most transformative uses. Not to write emails faster or summarize articles, but to function in a world not built for their brains.

This raises a question that goes beyond neurodivergence: what if AI isn't a productivity tool, but an accessibility tool?

The answer changes everything about how we should design, regulate, and fund these technologies.

Sources:

• ArXiv, I use ChatGPT to humanize my words: Affordances and Risks of ChatGPT to Autistic Users (January 2026): https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.17946
• La Presse, L'extension de mon cerveau (August 2025): https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/sante/personnes-neurodivergentes/l-ia-coach-de-vie/2025-08-17/l-extension-de-mon-cerveau.php
• WCAX, Neurodivergent individuals find AI tools life-changing (February 2026): https://www.wcax.com/2026/02/04/neurodivergent-individuals-find-ai-tools-life-changing-communication/
• Fortune, Palantir CEO says neurodivergent people will succeed in AI era (March 2026): https://fortune.com/2026/03/24/palantir-ceo-alex-karp-two-people-successful-in-ai-era-vocational-skills-neurodivergence-gen-z-career-advice/
• Forbes, Why AI Is Making Neurodivergent Talent The Most Valuable Hire In Tech (March 2026): https://www.forbes.com/sites/josipamajic/2026/03/26/why-ai-is-making-neurodivergent-talent-the-most-valuable-hire-in-tech/