Record numbers of people are turning to AI chatbots for therapy, reports Anthony Cuthbertson. But recent incidents have uncovered some deeply worrying blindspots of a technology out of control
Oh, well that explains everything, you are using it wrong.
A lot of people think that you’re supposed to argue with it and talk about things that are subjective or opinion based. But that’s ridiculous because it’s a computer program.
ChatGPT and others like it are calculators. They help you brainstorm problems. Ultimately, you are responsible for the outcome.
There’s a phrase I like to use at work when junior developers complain the outcome is not how they wanted it: shit in shit out.
So next time you use AI, perhaps consider are you feeding it shit? Because if you’re getting it, you are.
So today I had it do a bunch of fractional math on dimensional lumber at the hardware store. While it was doing this math for me it asked if this was for the guitar project I was working on in another chat, where I was mostly asking about magnetic polarity and various electronic, and yes it was. So then it made a different suggestion for me, which made a big impact on what I bought. I know that’s vague, but it was a long conversation.
Then, when I got home my neighbor had left a half dead plant on my stoop because I’m the neighborhood green thumb apparently. I had never seen this plant before. Took a photo, sent it to AI, and it told me what it was (yes, with sources).
Then while I was 3d modeling some shelf brackets, it helped my design by pointing out a possible weight distribution issue. While correcting that, I was able to reduce material usage by like 30%.
I don’t see any of that as “delusional”
But to the topic at hand, I think the conversations groups and pairs of humans have, both online and real life, will always be more damaging that what a single person can trick a computer into saying.
And by tricking it… you are abusing a tool designed for a different purpose. So, kitchen knives. Not meant to be murder weapons, certainly can be used for that purpose. Should we blame the knife?
Oh, well that explains everything, you are using it wrong.
A lot of people think that you’re supposed to argue with it and talk about things that are subjective or opinion based. But that’s ridiculous because it’s a computer program.
ChatGPT and others like it are calculators. They help you brainstorm problems. Ultimately, you are responsible for the outcome.
There’s a phrase I like to use at work when junior developers complain the outcome is not how they wanted it: shit in shit out.
So next time you use AI, perhaps consider are you feeding it shit? Because if you’re getting it, you are.
Again, I’m not fucking using it.
I played with it when it was new but it doesn’t do anything useful, I’m perfectly capable of brainstorming on my own.
Back to the topic at hand, do you not see how helping someone brainstorm their delusions with a sycophantic chatbot could be dangerous?
So today I had it do a bunch of fractional math on dimensional lumber at the hardware store. While it was doing this math for me it asked if this was for the guitar project I was working on in another chat, where I was mostly asking about magnetic polarity and various electronic, and yes it was. So then it made a different suggestion for me, which made a big impact on what I bought. I know that’s vague, but it was a long conversation.
Then, when I got home my neighbor had left a half dead plant on my stoop because I’m the neighborhood green thumb apparently. I had never seen this plant before. Took a photo, sent it to AI, and it told me what it was (yes, with sources).
Then while I was 3d modeling some shelf brackets, it helped my design by pointing out a possible weight distribution issue. While correcting that, I was able to reduce material usage by like 30%.
I don’t see any of that as “delusional”
But to the topic at hand, I think the conversations groups and pairs of humans have, both online and real life, will always be more damaging that what a single person can trick a computer into saying.
And by tricking it… you are abusing a tool designed for a different purpose. So, kitchen knives. Not meant to be murder weapons, certainly can be used for that purpose. Should we blame the knife?
I also had it make you this image: