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
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’m not saying you’re delusional, you seem to have completely lost the thread of this conversation in your defense of chatbots.
My point is someone who is already prone to delusional thinking will be sent down a feedback loop of affirming their delusions making things much worse.
I haven’t lost anything, I’m just not agreeing with you.
I think that if a person is suffering from mental issues that they can get the justification for their delusions regardless of AI. While it does provide some immediate access to information that they may interpret unhealthily, it is not unlike participating in social media within an echo chamber—which I would argue does more damage.
I will give you one thing though… I think more publicly available (ChatGPT) AI models need to cut off topics at a certain point and just refuse to go any further without forcefully inserting warning messages about getting professional help—but we could say the same thing about social media, haha.
Lots of things are advertised beyond their capabilities. Especially if people use them wrong.
AI isn’t bad. People are bad. Giving people AI is just one tool in a sea of millions of tools than can be misused. Focusing on it as the issue is ignoring the actual problem.
Is there a specific personal event that brought you to your opinion of AI, or is it mostly just stuff in the media?
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:
I’m not saying you’re delusional, you seem to have completely lost the thread of this conversation in your defense of chatbots.
My point is someone who is already prone to delusional thinking will be sent down a feedback loop of affirming their delusions making things much worse.
I haven’t lost anything, I’m just not agreeing with you.
I think that if a person is suffering from mental issues that they can get the justification for their delusions regardless of AI. While it does provide some immediate access to information that they may interpret unhealthily, it is not unlike participating in social media within an echo chamber—which I would argue does more damage.
I will give you one thing though… I think more publicly available (ChatGPT) AI models need to cut off topics at a certain point and just refuse to go any further without forcefully inserting warning messages about getting professional help—but we could say the same thing about social media, haha.
Sure, but by its very nature AI cares more about saying what you want to hear than what is true.
Further, the problem of AI hallucinations has no solution at this time which can be very dangerous depending on who’s using it.
Yes but social media is far worse for that, so you’re sort of yelling at clouds here.
How about this: anyone who doesn’t use ai for its intended purpose is banned from the system? 😅
What exactly is its intended purpose? AI companies advertise it as doing anything and everything.
I agree though , social media is absolutely a problem. But social media being a problem doesn’t mean other things can’t also be problems.
Lots of things are advertised beyond their capabilities. Especially if people use them wrong.
AI isn’t bad. People are bad. Giving people AI is just one tool in a sea of millions of tools than can be misused. Focusing on it as the issue is ignoring the actual problem.
Is there a specific personal event that brought you to your opinion of AI, or is it mostly just stuff in the media?
I wouldn’t even rank it as a tool, as tools are usually supposed to be useful.