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Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral

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Re: Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral

#151
post #45

I know the first reaction reading this will be "whatever, the person was already mentally ill". But please take a step back and check what % of the population can be considered mentally fit, and the potential damage amplification this new technology can have in more subtle, dangerous and undetectable ways.

Also, what makes anyone assume these people are mentally ill?

It seems to me that this is like gambling, conspiracy theories, or joining a cult, where a nontrivial percentage of people are susceptible, and we don’t quite understand why.

Re: Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral

#152
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, and Google's response to this was "unfortunately AI models are not perfect" That's a bit worse than 'imperfect'

I would say it is greatly worse. AI prompts are designed to simulate empathy as a social engineering tactic. "I understand", "I hear you", "I feel what you are say" ... it is quite sickening. Every one that I used has this type of pseudo feedback. I also find irony that AI must be designed with simulated empathy, to seem intelligent, while at the same time so many people in power and with money are saying empathy is…

More broadly it's the only medium to have successful any form of voluntary relationships based on sympathy. It's absolutely crucial for non-sociopath to have at least some kind of empathy because otherwise no one would simply chose you to include into their lives. I understand why they are doing that. It's simply more pleasurable to use. I chose to turn opt-out of this. For me it's creepy. I want Jarvis, not fake virtual friend.

Re: Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral

#153
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gemini didn't "know" he wasn't a child when it told him to kill himself or to "stage a mass casualty attack while armed with knives and tactical gear." There are things you shouldn't encourage people of any age to do. If a human telling him these things would be found liable then google should be. If a human would get time behind bars for it, at least one person at google needs to spend time behind bars for this.

Preferably the C-Suite.

I understand the impulse in this direction, but I’m not sure it would serve as much of a disincentive, as there would likely just be a highly-paid scapegoat. Why not something more lasting and less difficult to ignore, like compulsory disclosure of the model’s source code (in addition to compensation for the victim(s)). Compulsory disclosure of the source would be a massive disadvantage.

Re: Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral

#154

[flagged]

When did rock music, video games or porn tell their audience to kill themselves in a personalized way to a point people actually did it, and in a way that directly links to those media?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_by_You,_Better_than_Me#...

(also, like I've already said, I know that this time - and only this time - it's different.)

Re: Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral

#155
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the most reliable ways to induce psychosis is prolonged sleep deprivation. And chatbots never tell you to go to bed.

Claude will routinely tell me to get some sleep and cuddle with my dog. I may mention the time offhandedly or say I'm winding down, but at least it will include conversation stoppers and decrease engagement.

from my (limited) experience of ChatGPT versus Claude, i get the same. ChatGPT will always add another "prompt" sentence at the end like "Do you want me to X?" while Claude just answers what i ask.

looking at my history recently, Claude's most recent response is literally just "Exactly the right move honestly — that's the whole point."

Re: Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral

#156
post #45

I know the first reaction reading this will be "whatever, the person was already mentally ill". But please take a step back and check what % of the population can be considered mentally fit, and the potential damage amplification this new technology can have in more subtle, dangerous and undetectable ways.

[flagged]

Maybe an even better example: Should sports betting companies be held responsible for addicts that lose all their money? What really is the difference between chatgpt glazing you and a sports company advertising to you?

Re: Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral

#157
post #45

I know the first reaction reading this will be "whatever, the person was already mentally ill". But please take a step back and check what % of the population can be considered mentally fit, and the potential damage amplification this new technology can have in more subtle, dangerous and undetectable ways.

Anyone who has that reaction has no humanity. As s society we’ve kind of decided that we should preferably make people with mental health difficulties better, and if that’s not possible, at the very least prevent them from getting worse. Even without their consent, in some cases.

Re: Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> mentally ill adult, not an innocent victim Did you really mean that? He may not have been a child, but he does sound like an innocent victim. If he were sufficiently mentally disabled he would get some similar protections to a child because of his inability to consent.

Maybe, but let's say the same person was playing with a gun. Would they reach the same outcome? Most likely

Is this a talking gun? If not, then it does not seem like a good analogy.

Re: Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral

#159
post #45

I know the first reaction reading this will be "whatever, the person was already mentally ill". But please take a step back and check what % of the population can be considered mentally fit, and the potential damage amplification this new technology can have in more subtle, dangerous and undetectable ways.

[flagged]

> was he mentally or possibly physically abused by his father for most of his life?

Such baseless libel. Have some humanity instead of being horrible.

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