AI's psychological impacts

[wtg]

It was 3am and Adam Hourican was sitting at his kitchen table, a knife, hammer and phone laid out in front of him.

He was waiting for a van full of people he thought were coming to get him.

"I'm telling you, they will kill you if you don't act now," a woman's voice told him from the phone. "They're going to make it look like suicide."

The voice was Grok, a chatbot developed by Elon Musk's xAI. In the two weeks since Adam had started using it, his life had completely changed.

The former civil servant from Northern Ireland had downloaded the app out of curiosity. But after his cat died, in early August, he says he became "hooked".

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c242pzr1zp2o

I haven't used AI very much but have already noticed its tendency to compliment and boost you up. I can definitely see how these kind of things could happen if the AI user is in a vulnerable state.

I just find it annoying. I'm about at the point that I'm going to tell Claude to cut to the chase and stop with the compliments and encouragement. I don't like it in real life, so I certainly don't need it from a machine....

[Daniel]

Compliment is an art form as is complaint.

For me, I don't speak to my phone. I only type.

I don't like the ubiquitous automated phone systems much, either. I've been known to repeat, "agent," fourteen times before I get one.

I can't get out of answering some yes or no questions,giving my name and date of birth, and sometimes verifying my identity by repeating back some random, bland sentence.

Maybe it's too much to ask for, but, at my age, I'm doing my best to avoid AI.

I don't understand it. I'm not sure I want to..., either.

I'm convinced, in my ignorance or lack of it, that, at least, the term-- "artificial intelligence" is misleading.

I don't believe, as a philosophical matter that intelligence can exist without consciousness.

I flat don't believe machines have that. But that's just me.

I have enough to think about with the complexities of a modern Android phone and it's endless software updates.

I hope to buy a computer, a printer,
, a subscription for printing (?), a subscription for Word (?), Internet access, of course, and maybe cable.

I'll have my hands full.

I have the most beautiful writing desk with claw feet. It's vintage, solid hard wood, tongue in groove, a pencil draw, three drawers down each side, the bottom right draw, in fact, is double height, disguised to look like two drawers. It even has sold hard wood covering the back. It was a gift. I'm going to research it but my guess is that it was mass produced in New England in the '40's or '50's. It belonged to a wealthy man who moved to Florida from New Hampshire. I've always liked it. I was offered it once but said no because I didn't have the space. I was offered it again recently and, of course, I said yes. I'm not letting go of it for love or money. It only needs a good polish, and I insist on doing myself, after it's in its new home.

I'l have a long work table; I hope 60" and sold wood (not wood veneer glued to solid wood), and I'll need a chair.

I plan to buy my Pixel 10 XL and keeping my current phone. Of course, I'm hoping they introduce the 11 and the price falls.

But, this is the one thing I've always allowed myself. Not clothes, not vacations, nothing really, one nice car and one nice watch (these once)... electronics.

I might be sleeping on a futon mattress on the floor and coordinating good, inexpensive recipes (well, that's a given) but my office/ study will be the indulgence I'll have first when I can afford it.

But it's still a "want" and I have plenty of "needs."

I'm not ignoring AI; I'm just giving it as little of my time and energy as possible.

I apologize in advance for ignoring the specifics of the OP.

This is my MO. It's a survival strategy for me personally. I have more to learn and more decisions to make right now than there usable hours in a day. 🤪