I was recently told about a woman who was going through a nasty divorce. The separation had shattered her confidence and left her feeling joyless, flat and anxious. Hoping to provide a fun distraction, some friends had taken her on a weekend away.
But they couldn’t help noticing how much time she was stuck to her phone. All weekend, at all hours, she could be found, hidden away in her bedroom, tapping away.
Who was she talking to? Had she thrown herself into the world of Tinder without telling anyone? She finally confessed that she’d been ‘speaking’ with an AI ‘chatbot therapist’ with whom she was sharing all her troubles. When her friends naturally expressed concern, she became defensive.
‘Oh, he’s incredible,’ she insisted. ‘He really seems to “get” me and has given me some great advice. I don’t know what I’d do without him.’ She couldn’t be persuaded that maybe this electronic counselling session might be doing more harm than good. Were her friends right to be worried?
Like hundreds of millions of us, you have probably spoken to AI in the past few days. Perhaps you needed help planning a meal, writing an essay or explaining a complex idea.
