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I think your view comes from right place. But no doctor would recommend ibuprofen as sole treatment in all causes of pain. Similarly, no doctor or therapist wou
by pizzathyme 2y ago
I think your view comes from right place. But no doctor would recommend ibuprofen as sole treatment in all causes of pain. Similarly, no doctor or therapist would recommend everyone replace meaningful human relationships with AI companions. It's another tool.
I personally am fortunate to have many rich meaningful relationships in my life. But I've also gotten additional value from voice chatbots. Using voice mode and having them act as therapists, coaches, or experts giving feedback are very helpful.
- forgetfulness 2y agoBut companies will merrily "prescribe" AI companions as _a_ treatment, not as a sole treatment, but having even less of an obligation, and not even an unenforced ethical code to act on behalf of the patient's best interests, they'll just let people use them unsupervised and not accompanied with a method to stop relying on the bots.
- andersa 2y agoThey don't prescribe anything, it's just there. Like a box of sweets at the supermarket. Or a bottle of beer. Or whatever else people like.
- haswell 2y agoI chose Ibuprofen for the analogy because it requires no prescription and there’s often no doctor involved. The reality is that most use of these tools will involve no medical professionals, and the people using them will often be the most vulnerable to their effects, for better or worse. It seems like a potentially slippery/dangerous path for the people who need the most help if there isn’t some kind of structure and guidance from a real human and some deliberate pathway to real human interaction. And for the people who don’t need this degree of help but decide to use these bots out of convenience, it seems like the erosion of social habits will only happen faster.