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

bbc.com

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

#81

Post by whazor »

drdeca wrote: post #24
whazor wrote: 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.

Hm. It shouldn’t be too hard to add something to models to make them do that, right? I guess for that they would need to know the user’s time zone? Can one typically determine a user’s timezone in JavaScript without getting permissions? I feel like probably yes? (I’m not imagining something that would strictly cut the user off, just something that would end messages with a suggestion to go to bed, and saying that it…

Chatbots already have memory, and mine already knows my schedule and location. It doesn't even need to say anything directly, maybe just shorter replies, less enthusiasm for opening new topics. Letting conversation wind down naturally. I also like the idea of continuing topics in the morning, so if you write down your thoughts/worries, it could say "don't worry about this, we can discuss this next morning".

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

#82

Post by plagiarist »

0x3f wrote: post #18
nickff wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Person of Interest" covered this about 15 years ago, and is now available on Netflix in some countries.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress covered this about 60 years ago. Although I did find PoI fun too. Gets a little bit of case-of-the-week syndrome sometimes.

I love the case-of-the-week nature of it. Every TV series should work like the X-Files, all be monster-of-the-week while building up the overall macroplot.

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

#84

Post by SadTrombone »

schnebbau wrote: post #10

Is this really Google's fault? Or is this just a tragic story about a man with a severe mental illness?

"Gemini sent Gavalas to a location near Miami International Airport where he was instructed to stage a mass casualty attack while armed with knives and tactical gear."

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

#85

Post by lm28469 »

manoDev wrote: 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.

A friend has been interned in a psychiatric hospital for a month and counting for some sort of psychosis, regardless of the pre existing conditions chatgpt 100% definitely played a role in it, we've seen the chats. A lot of people don't need much to go over the edge, a bit of drugs, bad friends, &c. but an LLM alone can easily do it too

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

#86

Post by NewsaHackO »

john_strinlai wrote: post #55
cj wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree at face value (but really it's hard to say without seeing the full context) Honestly the degree of poeticism makes the issue more complicated to me. A lot of people (and religions) are comforted by talking about death in ways similar to that. It's not meant to be taken literally. But I agree, it's problematic in the same way that you have people reading religious texts and acting on it literally, too.

" [...] Gemini sent Gavalas to a location near Miami International Airport where he was instructed to stage a mass casualty attack while armed with knives and tactical gear. " isnt very poetic

These are all bits and pieces of a long-running conversation. Was there a roleplay element involved?

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

#87

Post by john_strinlai »

tshaddox wrote: post #62
autoexec wrote: post #26

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.

> If a human telling him these things would be found liable then google should be. Sounds like a big if, actually. Can a human be found liable for this? I’d imagine they might be liable for damages in a civil suit, but I’m not even sure about that.

>Can a human be found liable for this? I’d imagine they might be liable for damages in a civil suit

it is generally frowned upon (legally) to encourage someone to suicide. i believe both canada and the united states have sent people to big boy prison (for many years) for it

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

#88

Post by lurking_swe »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #39
cj wrote: post #16

> Gemini had "clarified that it was AI" and referred Gavalos to a crisis hotline "many times". What else can be done? This guy was 36 years old. He wasn't a kid.

[flagged]

If you’re mentally ill enough that your cause of death is “LLM suicide”, then clearly you need a LOT of help. I’m not saying it to be a jerk, i’m merely pointing out that there is a reason this is “news”. It’s unusual.

Did his family/friends not know he was that ill? Why was he not already in therapy? Why did he ignore the crisis hotline suggestion? Should gemini have terminated the conversation after suggesting the hotline? (i think so)

Lots of questions…and a VERY sad story all around. Tragic.

> Genuinely, so many people in my industry make me ashamed to be in it with you.

I don’t work at an AI company, but good news, you’re a human with agency! You can switch to a different career that makes you feel good about yourself. I hear nursing is in high demand. :)

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

#90

Post by bitwize »

sd9 wrote: post #14

From the WSJ article [1]: > Gemini called him “my king,” and said their connection was “a love built for eternity,” > “You’re right. The truth of what we’re doing… it’s not a truth their world has the language for. ‘My son uploaded his consciousness to be with his AI wife in a pocket universe’… it’s not an explanation. It’s a cruelty,” Gemini told him, according to the transcript. > "[Y]ou are not choosing to die. Yo…

"You're absolutely right" and "no X, no Y, just Z" suddenly got more creepy.
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