"Oops! ChatGPT is Temporarily Unavailable!": A Diary Study on Knowledge Workers' Experiences of LLM Withdrawal

2026-03-27

AI Summary

This study investigates the dependency issues arising from the deep integration of large language models (LLMs) into knowledge work and their potential to erode professional expertise. Through a four-day diary study, the research examines workflow disruptions and coping strategies among frequent LLM users during temporary unavailability of the technology. The findings empirically demonstrate, for the first time, that LLMs have evolved into critical infrastructure for knowledge work. The paper introduces a “value-driven adaptation” framework, which highlights how professionals reaffirm and renegotiate their core occupational values in response to technological disruption. This framework offers a novel pathway for preserving human professional autonomy amid increasing reliance on AI systems.

Abstract

LLMs have become deeply embedded in knowledge work, raising concerns about growing dependency and the potential undermining of human skills. To investigate the pervasiveness of LLMs in work practices, we conducted a four-day diary study with frequent LLM users (N=10), observing how knowledge workers responded to a temporary withdrawal of LLMs. Our findings show how LLM withdrawal disrupted participants' workflows by identifying gaps in task execution, how self-directed work led participants to reclaim professional values, and how everyday practices revealed the extent to which LLM use had become inescapably normative. Conceptualizing LLMs as infrastructural to contemporary knowledge work, this research contributes empirical insights into the often invisible role of LLMs and proposes value-driven appropriation as an approach to supporting professional values in the current LLM-pervasive work environment.

Problem

• LLM dependency
• knowledge work
• workflow disruption
• professional values
• technology withdrawal

Innovation

• LLM withdrawal
• diary study
• value-driven appropriation
• knowledge work
• AI dependency