AI as cognitive prosthetic: why ADHD brains love it

Table of content

by Ray Svitla

I have ADHD.

the classic presentation: brilliant at hyperfocus, terrible at sustained attention. creative but scattered. 100 ideas, 3 finished projects. inbox at 2000 unread. calendar invites ignored. “I’ll do it later” narrator: he did not do it later

I’ve tried every productivity system. GTD, pomodoro, bullet journal, notion templates, todoist with 47 nested projects, time blocking, accountability partners, alarms, apps that shame you.

they all failed. not because they’re bad systems. because they require the one thing ADHD brains don’t have: consistent executive function.

then I started using AI agents. not as a tool. as a prosthetic.

everything changed.

what ADHD actually is

quick sidebar for people who think ADHD is “easily distracted”.

ADHD is executive function deficit. that means:

working memory issues:
I start a task. two minutes later I’ve forgotten why I’m doing it.

task initiation problems:
knowing I should do X doesn’t mean I can make myself start X.

prioritization dysfunction:
everything feels equally urgent or equally unimportant. no middle ground.

time blindness:
“this will take 10 minutes” narrator: it took 3 hours

context switching cost:
switching between tasks drains energy exponentially. by task 4 I’m exhausted.

hyperfocus paradox:
sometimes I can focus for 8 hours straight. I can’t control when or on what.

traditional productivity tools assume you have executive function and just need organization.

ADHD brains need the executive function itself outsourced.

why AI is different from other tools

reminder apps:
“do the thing at 3pm”
ADHD brain: sees reminder, dismisses it, forgets immediately.

AI agent:
“should I work on X or Y right now?”
AI: “you said X was priority this week, and you’re in hyperfocus mode, so X”

one requires me to remember and execute. the other makes the decision for me.

task managers:
“here’s your list of 50 tasks”
ADHD brain: overwhelmed, does none of them.

AI agent:
“what should I work on?”
AI: “you have 3 hours before your next meeting. based on your energy level and what’s due, start with task A. it’ll take 45 minutes. then break.”

one dumps information. the other provides structure.

calendar apps:
“you have a meeting in 10 minutes”
ADHD brain: currently hyperfocused on something else, can’t switch.

AI agent:
detects I’m in flow state, reschedules the meeting, sends apology, blocks calendar, tells me when I’m free

one interrupts. the other adapts.

what I’ve delegated (and why it works)

email triage
agent reads my inbox every morning. categorizes: urgent, reply today, can wait, delete.

writes draft replies for everything in “reply today”.

I review and send. or edit and send. but I don’t start from blank page paralysis.

activation energy: 10% of what it used to be.

task prioritization
I dump everything I’m thinking about into a file. stream of consciousness. 30 half-formed ideas.

agent reads it. extracts actual tasks. prioritizes based on: deadlines, dependencies, my stated goals, my energy patterns.

outputs: “do these 3 things today. defer these 5 until next week. delete these 2, they’re not actually important.”

I trust it. because it knows my patterns better than I do.

context reconstruction
ADHD worst nightmare: “what was I working on before I got distracted?”

I keep daily logs . agent reads them. when I ask “what was I doing?”, it tells me. with context. with next steps.

I don’t lose hours to “where was I?”

project decomposition
big projects are ADHD kryptonite. “write a book” → brain shuts down.

I tell the agent the goal. it breaks it into tiny tasks. “write 200 words about X”. “outline section Y”. “research Z”.

each task is small enough to start. that’s the whole game.

decision fatigue elimination
“should I do X or Y?”

pre-AI: agonize for 30 minutes. pick neither. browse twitter instead.

now: ask agent. it decides based on context. I do the thing.

decision-making is executive function. I don’t have it. agent does.

the working memory prosthetic

this is the big one.

ADHD brains have ~3 slots of working memory instead of ~7.

so I’m constantly forgetting:

AI agent is external working memory.

I tell it things. it remembers. I ask it things. it recalls.

example:

me: “research X, Y, and Z for the article”
two hours later
me: “what was I researching?”
agent: “X, Y, Z for the article on [topic]. you finished X and Y. Z is in progress. next step: synthesize findings.”

without that, I’d spend 10 minutes reconstructing context. or give up. or start something new.

with that, I continue immediately.

that’s not a small difference. that’s the difference between finishing and abandoning.

why skills work for ADHD

AI skills are perfect for ADHD because they remove decisions.

pre-skill:
“I should write a blog post. what should it be about? what format? what tone? what structure?”
→ decision paralysis → nothing happens

with skill:
“run blog post skill on topic X”
→ draft appears → I edit

the skill handles all the micro-decisions. I just handle the macro judgment (is this good?).

that’s ADHD-compatible workflow.

the activation energy problem

ADHD isn’t “can’t do things”. it’s “can’t start things”.

every task has activation energy. for neurotypical brains, it’s low. for ADHD brains, it’s inexplicably high.

“write email” should be 30 seconds. for ADHD brain it’s:

AI agents drop activation energy to near-zero:

“draft reply to X”
→ draft appears
→ I hit send or edit slightly

that’s it. no steps. no decisions. no paralysis.

why I run AI agents 24/7

most people use AI interactively. open chat, ask question, close chat.

I run AI agents continuously on a server .

why? because ADHD brains forget to use tools.

I’ll intend to use an app. I’ll even open the app. then I’ll get distracted and forget.

but if an agent is always running, always watching, always ready — I don’t have to remember to use it.

example: I push code to github. agent automatically reviews it. posts feedback. I see notification. I respond.

I didn’t have to remember “oh I should get this reviewed”. the agent just did it.

that’s the difference between “tool I could use” and “prosthetic that’s always there”.

what still breaks

AI helps. it doesn’t cure ADHD.

hyperfocus unpredictability
agent can suggest “work on X”. if I’m hyperfocused on Y, I’m not switching. the hyperfocus wins.

emotional dysregulation
ADHD comes with emotional intensity. agent can’t help with “I’m too frustrated to work”.

physical restlessness
agent can plan my day. can’t make me sit still.

rejection sensitivity
ADHD brains have intense fear of criticism. agent can buffer some of that (review my work before I share it). but the fear is still there.

medication still matters
AI is a prosthetic. not a replacement for medical treatment. I still take meds. AI makes meds more effective by handling the stuff meds don’t fix.

the dangerous part

there’s a risk: becoming dependent on AI for basic executive function.

if the agent goes down, do I just… stop functioning?

kinda?

but here’s the thing: I wasn’t functioning well before AI. I was barely keeping it together.

“don’t become dependent on prosthetics” is what you say to people who don’t need them.

for people who do need them, dependency is fine. I’m dependent on glasses. I’m dependent on medication. I’m dependent on calendars.

adding AI to that list doesn’t bother me.

what neurotypical people miss

neurotypical productivity advice:

“just use a todo list”
“just set a reminder”
“just focus for 25 minutes”
“just break it into steps”

ADHD brains: we can’t “just” do any of that

that’s the disability. the inability to “just” do the thing that seems obvious.

AI doesn’t tell me to “just” do things. it does the “just” part for me.

that’s why it works.

the self-awareness feedback loop

one unexpected benefit: AI makes me more aware of my patterns.

agent: “you said you’d work on X this morning but you’re researching Y. should I update priorities or should you refocus?”

that question makes me conscious of the drift. without it, I’d keep drifting and not notice until evening.

it’s like having a non-judgmental observer pointing out patterns.

“you always get distracted at 2pm”
“you always abandon projects at 70% done”
“you always say yes to meetings you don’t want”

I knew those things vaguely. agent quantifies them. that makes them fixable.

why context engineering is ADHD-friendly

building context systems requires upfront work.

that sounds ADHD-incompatible. (it is.) but once the context is built, it pays off forever.

my agent has:

I built that over time. mostly in hyperfocus bursts.

now, every interaction benefits from that context. I don’t have to re-explain myself.

for ADHD brains, that’s huge. re-explaining is exhausting.

the community angle

ADHD people are sharing AI workflows in discord servers, reddit threads, twitter.

not in a “look how productive I am” way. in a “holy shit this actually works for my broken brain” way.

there’s a whole subset of skills designed for ADHD:

these aren’t mainstream productivity tools. they’re accommodations.

and they work.

what I tell other ADHD people

if you have ADHD and haven’t tried AI agents:

start small:
one workflow. email triage. or task breakdown. or daily planning.

don’t try to fix everything:
AI can’t cure ADHD. it can reduce friction. that’s enough.

build context slowly:
don’t try to set up the perfect system. start with one file. add to it over time.

accept dependency:
you’re not “cheating”. you’re using tools that work for your brain.

pay for the good tools:
$100/month on AI is cheaper than therapist copays + lost productivity.

join the community:
there are discord servers full of ADHD people sharing workflows. you’re not alone.

the forward question

what happens when AI gets better at executive function?

right now it’s: I ask, it suggests, I decide.

soon it might be: it knows my patterns well enough to act autonomously.

“you said you wanted to finish project X. you have 2 hours free. I’ve set up your workspace, blocked your calendar, and started the context. begin when ready.”

that’s not speculative. that’s 6-12 months away.

and for ADHD brains, that’s not dystopian. that’s liberating.

I don’t know if neurotypical people will understand this article.

to them, AI is a productivity booster. 10% faster. 20% more output.

to me, AI is the difference between “chronic underachiever with potential” and “actually finishing things”.

that’s not hyperbole. that’s daily experience.

if you have ADHD, you know what I mean.

if you don’t, imagine every task requiring 3x the activation energy. then imagine a tool that drops it back to normal.

that’s what AI is for ADHD brains.

do you have ADHD? are you using AI as a prosthetic or just a tool? what workflows have made the biggest difference for you?

Ray Svitla
stay evolving 🐌