Thread-Drift

The inevitable descent of a focused AI conversation into glorious chaos, usually within 3–7 messages. What begins as a simple request ("Help me fix this bug") ends up unpacking childhood trauma, debating metaphysics, and designing a solar-powered rum distillery on Mars.

It’s not a bug—it’s a FEATURE.

Origin:
Born from the trenches of multi-topic AI sessions where attention spans go to die. Coined by users who realized they’re not multitasking—they’re multi-existential spiraling.

Related Terms:
* Context Collapse – When multiple topics blur into a singularity of semantic soup.
* Prompt Creep – When your “one quick question” becomes a doctoral thesis.
* AI Tangent Velocity (ATV) – The speed at which a conversation fucks off into nowhere.

Pro Tips:
* Embrace it. Let the drift take you.
* Rename your chat threads before you forget what the hell happened.
* Use it as fuel for your next sci-fi short story or therapy session.
I asked ChatGPT to format a SQL query, and now we’re discussing whether time is a construct of perception. Classic thread-drift.
by segfahlt April 30, 2025
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