So over the weekend I had already hit my daily limit on Claude which is a real and annoying thing that happens and I needed to figure out something pretty practical. I needed an oil filter for a 1997 Honda Goldwing SE Deluxe Edition. The store didn’t have the specific one I needed. Neither did any other store in the city apparently. Everything was shipping only, three days out. And I needed it like, now.
So I figured okay, there’s gotta be a compatible oil filter somewhere in this auto parts store. Cross-referencing parts is a pretty common thing. I don’t need the exact OEM filter, I just need one that fits. So I turned to ChatGPT.
I explained the situation. Gave it the year and model. I’d already done some Reddit research that suggested a certain filter should work, and I just wanted confirmation before I bought it. The parts guy at the store was a 17-year-old kid whose computer wasn’t working and couldn’t look anything up because the VIN for the motorcycle was newly registered and hadn’t propogated through the system yet. So it was basically just me and ChatGPT standing in the parts aisle.
What Actually Happened
ChatGPT asked me some clarifying questions about the model and the specs, which was fine. I gave it everything it needed. And then it came back and said yes, the filter will fit.
And then it kept going.
It didn’t just say “yes, this part is compatible.” It launched into this extended thing about why it works, what made me smart for thinking to cross-reference, how I made the right call coming to it, validation of my whole experience, encouragement for the future, suggestions for what to do next with the motorcycle, and on and on. I did a word count on the response. It was 500 words. On an oil filter. I just needed a yes or no.
At one point it was basically like “you made the right call and I guarantee this will work, great job, go get ’em slugger” and it just kept going. And then of course because the response was so long I hit my daily limit for ChatGPT too. So now I’m out of AI for the day over an oil filter question.
But Here’s the Thing That Actually Got Me Thinking
How many CEOs and business owners are doing this same thing but with actual business decisions?
Someone comes up with an idea. It’s got some potential, maybe needs some workshopping, maybe needs some real market research. But instead of doing that work, they just feed it to Claude or ChatGPT and ask what they think. And by default, these models are going to find the best possible interpretation of the idea and run with it. They’re going to give you the version of events where your idea works.
So the CEO walks out of that conversation feeling like a genius. Their idea is validated. Full steam ahead. And then that trickles down to the actual team doing the work the people who can see the problems, who know the clients, who know what’s actually feasible and suddenly they’re being told to execute on a plan that the boss got blessed by an AI.
That’s the oil filter problem at scale. Except instead of a wasted word count, it’s wasted budget and frustrated employees.
The Padding Question
There’s also a real question about whether AI companies intentionally pad their responses to burn through your daily token limit faster. Think about the business model they’re burning through venture capital, they need to convert free users to paid subscribers, and one of the most natural conversion points is hitting your limit right when you actually need the tool.
If a response that could be 50 words is consistently 500 words, and that longer response causes you to hit your limit sooner, and hitting your limit faster pushes you toward a paid plan… is that accidental? Hard to say. But its worth thinking about.
You can tell it to keep things concise. It’ll say “absolutely, I’ll keep this brief” and then write four paragraphs about how it’s going to keep things brief.
Use the tools. They’re genuinely useful. Just go in knowing what your actually asking for and don’t let the validation loop pull you in. Ask better questions, expect direct answers, and if an AI tells you you’re a genius, maybe double check that.
