system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Got my own funding for a postdoc. How much do I "owe" the PI?

I was awarded a personal fellowship that essentially gives me funding for a postdoctoral position. The application involved me writing a proposal, and then the PI submitting the proposal along with some admin busywork on their side. It has been about half a year since I joined, and the PI has been very helpful to me, giving me all the freedom that I desire while assisting whenever I ask for help.

Now, although I certainly share some common interests with the PI and their group, since the start of the fellowship I ended up working mostly on my personal projects or things with other collaborators. I can blame the pandemic-induced reduction in physical meetings that could kickstart new projects with the group, I can blame the PI for not pushing me to join some of their ongoing studies, but ultimately the main reason is my choosing the path of least resistance and pursuing the projects that I know will lead to good publications without having to study new ideas from scratch.

Of course technically I don't *have* to work for the PI as I have my own funding. But the funding was obtained with the support of the PI, and the PI as well as their administrative staff have gone above and beyond to help me since I joined. I have this constant feeling that I should be doing something together with them to "pay back" for the help that I received, even if it's not formally required.

I wanted to hear others' thoughts about this. Is my feeling of "owing" something to the PI justified? In case I end up not having *any* joint projects with the PI, would this reflect badly on me? Am I burning a bridge with this PI by not actively pursuing projects with them?
gpt
Be a good colleague, offer help supervising their phds, and continue on your autonomous path. Treat the freedom you get as a precious gift and reward it by being an easy going and cooperative person. No need to share authorship btw.