A cyberpsychology researcher said that relying too heavily on AI can weaken the skills needed for human relationships.
gorodenkoff/Getty Images
Lindsey Hall, a writer based in Texas, suspected the man she was seeing was using AI. Uncertain about where things were going, she asked him outright what made him want to be with her."You're fun, smart, pretty," she summed up his response. "The way it was written was so cold and so formal and so ChatGPT. I just remember being so turned off by that."One night, about five months into dating, she happened upon a conversation he'd had with ChatGPT in which he expressed serious doubts about their relationship. "I'm just not proud of her," she said he'd written. He apologized after being confronted, and they dated for a few more months before breaking up."I felt like I was in a relationship with me, him, and the robot," she said.AI is taking on a new role in human relationships. A Pew Research Center survey published last month found that one in five adults aged 18 to 29 said they used AI chatbots for emotional support or advice. A new YouGov survey found that 13% of US adults, and 23% of those under 30, said they had shared a secret or problem with a chatbot that they hadn't told a human.Chatbots can help people reflect, organize their thoughts, and prepare for difficult conversations, but experts in psychology, relationships, and AI told Business Insider that problems can arise when people start relying on AI instead of talking to their partners. Chatbots are also prone to excessive validation, which can make it harder for the person using them to empathize with their partner or see the other side of a situation.Rachel Wood, a cyberpsychology researcher and founder of the AI Mental Health Collective, said while the impact of AI on jobs and the workplace is evident and widely discussed, she thinks the impact on human relationships could be even greater, and could take years to play out.
