People talk about AI sycophancy, but there are plenty of human sycophants as well. If you're an extremely rich/powerful person, it is very easy to inadvertently surround yourself with sycophants who tell you how amazing and ground-breaking all your ideas are. I wonder if this is the reason people like Musk engage in such bizarre behavior and radical personality shifts over the past decade
“I applied to be pope”: Losing grip on reality while using ChatGPT
41–50 of 90 posts
Re: “I applied to be pope”: Losing grip on reality while using ChatGPT
#42People talk about AI sycophancy, but there are plenty of human sycophants as well. If you're an extremely rich/powerful person, it is very easy to inadvertently surround yourself with sycophants who tell you how amazing and ground-breaking all your ideas are. I wonder if this is the reason people like Musk engage in such bizarre behavior and radical personality shifts over the past decade
> but there are plenty of human sycophants as well
That's besides the point. This is about how AI induces psychosis and mental problems on scale. Also let's stop this constant humans-vs-ai false dichotomy - it will never be the same, no matter how much the ai boosters yearn for it!
Re: “I applied to be pope”: Losing grip on reality while using ChatGPT
#43I don't think it's right to involuntarily send someone to a psychiatric ward because he believed that he was chosen by ChatGPT to be the pope. For the same reason I don't think we should send the pope to a psychiatric ward because he believes that he was chosen for that role by an invisible man in the sky. At least there's no doubt that ChatGPT exists lol. People should be allowed to be as whacky as they like so long…
Found Richard Dawkin's alt account
Re: “I applied to be pope”: Losing grip on reality while using ChatGPT
#44> All the spirallers that AFP spoke to said the positive feedback from the chatbot felt similar to dopamine hits from some kind of drug. > Which is why Lucy Osler, a philosophy lecturer at the University of Exeter, warned that AI companies could be tempted to ramp up the sycophancy of their bots. > "They are in quite a deep financial hole, and are desperately looking to make sure that their products become viable --…
> Sounds like the big social media companies.
I agree. Looking at the history of tobacco companies, oxycontin and Meta, I will not be surprised if the AI companies will follow the money.
Re: “I applied to be pope”: Losing grip on reality while using ChatGPT
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
> he believes that he was chosen for that role by an invisible man in the sky. One thing is clear, you should not be sent to the HN gulag simply because you don't understand what you're talking about. Me and others realize you don't know how the pope is chosen, but damn if I'm not willing to die for your right to state something that is utterly wrong.
Are you saying God is not invisible? If God created man in his own image, then why can we see each other?
According to those who believe in god, since "he" is a spirit and not flesh, he is indeed invisible to humans. I guess you can argue he makes himself visible through things like angels and other manifestations, most famously through Jesus Christ.
With the "god created humans in the image of god" part I think they mean more attributes like morality, reason and so on, less physical properties. In the end, humans are visible, finite beings, god is a spirit, so our visibility to each other reflects our created, embodied nature, very distinct from god's invisible, infinite nature.
Or however it goes, I'm an atheist myself so I'm maybe not the best to answer here, but I've been involved in the church for as long as I can remember in some way or another, and an eager reader of the bible, so hopefully I got the overall ideas correct :)
Re: “I applied to be pope”: Losing grip on reality while using ChatGPT
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
> he believes that he was chosen for that role by an invisible man in the sky. One thing is clear, you should not be sent to the HN gulag simply because you don't understand what you're talking about. Me and others realize you don't know how the pope is chosen, but damn if I'm not willing to die for your right to state something that is utterly wrong.
You mean the pope doesn't believe he was chosen by God, just by cardinals and other primates?
This is what former pope Benedict XVI said about it:
> I would not say so, in the sense that the Holy Spirit picks out the pope... I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus the Spirit’s role should be understood in a much more elastic sense, not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote. Probably the only assurance he offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined.
> There are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit obviously would not have picked!
Source: https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/does-god-pi...
Re: “I applied to be pope”: Losing grip on reality while using ChatGPT
#47People talk about AI sycophancy, but there are plenty of human sycophants as well. If you're an extremely rich/powerful person, it is very easy to inadvertently surround yourself with sycophants who tell you how amazing and ground-breaking all your ideas are. I wonder if this is the reason people like Musk engage in such bizarre behavior and radical personality shifts over the past decade
> but there are plenty of human sycophants as well That's besides the point. This is about how AI induces psychosis and mental problems on scale. Also let's stop this constant humans-vs-ai false dichotomy - it will never be the same, no matter how much the ai boosters yearn for it!
That would be a false equivalence not a false dichotomy. You believe they are different and you're annoyed that people are treating them like the same.
Additionally it isn't beside the point. The poster is pointing out the ways which people respond to sycophancy. Saying there are similarities between how they respond to sycophancy from AI and sycophancy from real people.
Re: “I applied to be pope”: Losing grip on reality while using ChatGPT
#48[flagged]
Re: “I applied to be pope”: Losing grip on reality while using ChatGPT
#49Discordians know they’re popes. What a funny idea to think you would have to apply!
I carry around my pope card just in case
Re: “I applied to be pope”: Losing grip on reality while using ChatGPT
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Explicit accusation that this was caused by chatbots + call for general regulation is right there in the article: "AFP spoke to several members about their experiences. All warned that the world has to wake up to the threat unregulated AI chatbots pose to mental health. Questions are also being asked about whether AI companies are doing enough to protect vulnerable people." This, in time, might be used to nerf the mo…
I don't think "correlation does not necessarily imply causation" even makes sense to someone saying "Maybe AI chatbots aren't great for people's mental health" or even "Are the AI companies actually trying to prevent AI chatbots being bad for people's mental health?", both statements seem fine and doesn't imply any causation as far as I understand.
This cautious statement, which would indeed be fine, is an invention of yours when it comes to the article. They assert causation, calling for AI companies to be disciplined and punished, praising the EU online censorship campaign, arguing this is a big experiment:
"Millar called for AI companies to be held responsible for the impact of their chatbots, saying the European Union has been more assertive in regulating Big Tech than the US or Canada.
He believes spirallers like him have unwittingly been caught in a massive global experiment."