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We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

newyorker.com

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Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#71

Post by jonator »

macleginn wrote: post #48

The article is laudably nuanced but in the end a bit all over the place. The worst types of loneliness are, is it points out, are usually reserved for the elderly; who also dominate suicide stats in many places. If AIs help them make their lives more tolerable, that’s a clear win. As for the folks with a choice, the prevalence of AI companions will likely be directly proportional to the quality of choices available.…

I agree. My take is, with tech and the social realm, it tends to provide watered down alternatives that distills the social fabric into a more sparsely connected graph. It's not absolutely bad as there can be good that comes about it, but in general it re-engineers the incentives to connect.

Meetup.com (Luma, etc): replaces the need for existing heavily maintained communities of friends and family in your location with siloed random encounters. However, it shortens the path to meeting people that share niche interests.

Dating apps: replaces the need for men to spontaneously approach women they meet in their daily life or in social/family circles (even bars) with a heavily idealized profile centered around physical and emotional attractiveness. They are not only dominated by men, but they typically only disproportionally benefit a small % of those men.

Facebook: you can keep in touch with the lives of more people at scale, but it reduces the incentive to catch up in person with the people you actually care about. This can lead to genuine in person connections being replaced with a feed of people you really don't know.

Take it with a grain of salt.

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#72

Post by al_borland »

Havoc wrote: post #31

Even though I'm arguable among the target audience here so to speak I can't really wrap my head around this. It's too steerable and just echos back whatever direction you take it. No own emotional state, interests, agency, variability etc. Even as a substitute for social interaction it feels so inadequate to be pointless. Plenty of people do roleplaying and AI girlfriends etc so I guess it depends on the person?

Most people don't realize this is happening.

My dad sent me a few chats he had with ChatGPT and they were both stroking each other's egos pretty hard. It was pretty weird. He was using it a lot to get information and prep before a surgery and I felt like ChatGPT reinforced his unrealistic expectations for the speed of recovery. I didn't say anything before the surgery, as I didn't want to break his spirit and a positive attitude has its value.

A couple weeks post-op, when reality set in that the recovery was going to be longer and harder than he expected, we ended up on the topic of AI during a chat. I mentioned how AI can be steered and gave some examples on how I will often frame questions, and come at it from different angles to try and better find some semblance of true. I've even sent him chats that I've had with ChatGPT where I catch it in lies about itself about its own capabilities to try and drive the point home.

His response was to say he also does this, and he's worried about people who aren't as self-aware as "us" who take the AI results at face value. We even discussed people using AI as a therapist, and his concern was that the AI wouldn't challenge someone's existing ideas, like a real therapist often does.

It seems that even though he thinks he is challenging it, and will sometimes go to multiple different chatbots for a more serious question, he is still being misled. The silver lining is that he does have an abnormally large friend network for someone in his 70s. Not just Facebook friends, but people who he regularly sees in person from all eras of his life. Hopefully that keeps things in check and he doesn't go too far off the deep end. Though he does seem to disproportionally value ChatGPT's opinion over most others, probably because it always tells him how smart and insightful he is.

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#74

Post by yapyap »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #30

I already don't like what we became without it. If AI can fix the stupid disease, it's welcome. Also, it's going to be exploring space a hundred years before we're able. The universe is big enough for both AI and ordinary I.

is this Sam Altman’s alt? It won’t fix anything.

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#75

Post by api »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #64
api wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doomscrolling is very different from web surfing. The mind is far less engaged. It’s a hypnotic state, deeply addictive and soporific. Contrarian take (not saying I believe this) but what if AI companions actually engage the mind more? Is there some positive path available here?

I’m not sure it’s one or the other. Firing off a prompt to Claude Code and letting it rip can be great for productivity but I won’t pretend I’m reading every line it writes unless I have to. And yet if I’m inquiring into a subject matter I have scant knowledge about, and want to learn more about , I voraciously read the output and plan my next prompt thoughtfully throughout. The dividing line is intellectual curiosit…

To me AI feels like the early web. I can get information without sifting through heaps of SEO trash, and it’s like having this weird magic thinking mirror to explore ideas. Unlike social media it’s not a sea of culture war rage trolling and slop.

I am not trying to use it as a companion though. Not only do I have human ones but it feels super weird and creepy to try. I couldn’t suspend disbelief since I know how these things work.

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#76

Post by jstummbillig »

glimshe wrote: post #59

I believe that AI can't ever replace direct human contact. But I'm not so sure if a good AI can't replace superficial online-only friendships. Looking at the bulk of my online interactions (outside forums like this one), they largely end in trivia (did you know...) or low effort agreement. An AI could play that role admirably.

What do you mean by direct?

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#78

Post by ninetyninenine »

jstummbillig wrote: post #76
glimshe wrote: post #59

I believe that AI can't ever replace direct human contact. But I'm not so sure if a good AI can't replace superficial online-only friendships. Looking at the bulk of my online interactions (outside forums like this one), they largely end in trivia (did you know...) or low effort agreement. An AI could play that role admirably.

What do you mean by direct?

Like touch? Physical contact? I think that’s what he means.

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#79

Post by jonator »

jwally wrote: post #28
nathan_compton wrote: post #18

The idea that AI is going to "solve" loneliness is so insane. Even the framing of the idea is insane, in my opinion. Loneliness is not really about having someone to exchange words with, fundamentally. It is about being validated by other human beings or entities. At a most fundamental level the AI doesn't have a choice except to appear to validate you and this lack of freedom, the fact that you do not win over the A…

Super interesting point that struck a chord with me. Without the risk of rejection, the ai will come off as a sycophantic ass kissing yes-man. It might be seductive at first but will get old fast for most people, I would imagine. What would be really interesting is how much longer the relationship would last if it were formed on a social media site or forum where there is still some risk of rejection, and validation…

I'd argue the opposite of ass kissing and yes-men behavior is what is actually seductive.

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#80

Post by add-sub-mul-div »

glimshe wrote: post #59

I believe that AI can't ever replace direct human contact. But I'm not so sure if a good AI can't replace superficial online-only friendships. Looking at the bulk of my online interactions (outside forums like this one), they largely end in trivia (did you know...) or low effort agreement. An AI could play that role admirably.

Then you'd lose the potential for any of those relationships to grow into something more meaningful, which can/does happen.
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