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Technology@lemmy.worldbybeep@piefed.world
4 days

AI chatbots linked to psychological harm, addiction and delusions, Study finds

news.northeastern.edu English

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1432467/ai-chatbots-linked-to-psychological-harm-addiction-and-delusions-study-finds

Research.

29
    AI chatbots linked to psychological harm, Northeastern study finds
    news.northeastern.edu
    New research outlines how the use of AI chatbots for companionship and support is linked with “severe negative outcomes.”
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    • bitteroldcoot@piefed.socialEnglish
      4 days

      AI-induced psychosis

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI-induced_psychosis

      It’s really easy to get drawn into the delusion. I once spent a Sunday afternoon doings stock picks for the coming year with google gemini. After several hours I decided to independently verify the answers it was giving. EVERY SINGLE THING IT SAID WAS A LIE!!!

      I always thought of myself as smart and cynical. But that grift bruised my ego more than anything else.

      Here is a good study of how wrong they can be and the results are horrific. Not surprisingly, google gemini is almost never right.

      https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/03/ai-search-engines-fail-to-produce-accurate-citations-in-over-60-of-tests-according-to-new-tow-center-study/

        • lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4 days

          It didn’t “lie,” because an LLM can’t deceive. It’s a tool that predicts the next most likely token, and unless you asking for citations you’re using an LLM in an application where they do not usually perform well

            • Venator@lemmy.nzEnglish
              4 days

              Yeah, it just accurately predicted what a liar would write! 😅

              • bitteroldcoot@piefed.socialEnglish
                4 days

                That reads like it was written by an ai.

                  • erin@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
                    3 days

                    That reads like almost all of my writing. God forbid someone uses slightly large words and a neutral, academic tone.

                    • lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.worldEnglish
                      4 days

                      What makes you say that?

                        • bitteroldcoot@piefed.socialEnglish
                          4 days

                          I really hate it when you guys end in an engagement prompt.

                            • Zoe@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
                              3 days

                              Distinguish between a question and an “engagement prompt”.

                              • Zarobi@aussie.zoneEnglish
                                3 days

                                What does that mean? ^/s^

                                • lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.worldEnglish
                                  3 days

                                  You’re annoying. “Everything I don’t like is AI” is a different kind of psychosis

                          • OctopusNemeses@lemmy.worldEnglish
                            3 days

                            I gave it a try on a hobby project without double checking. I bought some parts I didn’t need. Good thing it was only about $20.

                            In hindsight a good portion of the diagrams I asked for were complete non-sense, but I wrote it off as poor image generation than having zero actual comprehension. It was trying to generate designs that didn’t exist because nobody does it that way. I later figured out after looking at diagrams from research papers where students built much simpler designs.

                          • percent@infosec.pubEnglish
                            3 days

                            I can’t even imagine opening up to an LLM, emotionally, or even having a casual conversation with one. Also, other people can read those conversations. How are people comfortable with that?

                              • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.netEnglish
                                3 days

                                First, people are comfortable with having smart speakers recording everything they say and sending it to some random people to listen to so…

                                Second, it’s like social media algorithms that are designed to be addictive. The other day someone used ChatGPT voice assistant next to me and it’s designed to sound like an actual person. It speaks in a very natural, casual voice and makes those very short pauses, like it’s thinking about the answer and what words to use. It’s clearly trained on some voice messages people send to one another. It’s designed to sound like one of your friends. I can easily imagine someone using it once to ask about tree frog mating rituals or something and get hooked. I can imagine anyone falling for this and quickly treating it like a person. It’s build for that.

                              • lenocolomo@lemmy.mlEnglish
                                4 days

                                Lost a good friend of mine whom I knew for a long time 'cause he tried to convince me that Pepsi was a healthy drink. (In the reference was distilled Water or some BS). Woke up with him just gone back to his parents house and then moving out. Later I found out from other friends that he had asked the chatbot (left deliberately unnamed) then if I was a good friend. That’s how you know this hysteria will stop only looooong after bloodshed.

                                  • bitteroldcoot@piefed.socialEnglish
                                    4 days

                                    The chatbots seem to have replaced Facebook as the preferred way to manipulate peoples opinions.

                                    I have to wonder if Pepsi paid the chatbot to push it’s product.

                                    Edit: Yup. Companies are paying to be mentioned in chats. It’s called GEO.

                                    https://www.movieguide.org/news-articles/are-companies-paying-for-ai-to-recommend-them-to-users.html

                                      • lenocolomo@lemmy.mlEnglish
                                        4 days

                                        The only logical next step in capitalism… Was bound to happen. People even trust these bots. I could am crying (inside).

                                          • magnue@lemmy.worldEnglish
                                            4 days

                                            After that you’ll pay extra to have no product placements

                                              • lenocolomo@lemmy.mlEnglish
                                                4 days

                                                Pretty sure paygrades already exist for moderation. But currently OpenAI is a “non-profit” or something like that. (sponsors)

                                                Sorry a public benefit for whatever that means.

                                          • lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.worldEnglish
                                            4 days

                                            That happened

                                              • 🇨🇦GreenBeard🇨🇦@lemmy.caEnglish
                                                4 days

                                                I believe it. I’ve watched people end up homeless, friendless and unemployed from their AI habit. Granted, they weren’t in a good spot to begin with, but AI took them from keeping their heads above water to living on the street and screaming obscenities at strangers. AI Psychosis is wild.

                                                  • Tollana1234567@lemmy.todayEnglish
                                                    3 days

                                                    interesting i wonder how those situations came to happen? were they already unemployed living at home , parents and spent all thier time on AI, and not applying to places?

                                                      • 🇨🇦GreenBeard🇨🇦@lemmy.caEnglish
                                                        3 days

                                                        No, they were well employed for their age and skill, living on their own and even in a relationship. Then they started to self-sabotage. A lot. The AI amplified every negative impulse to the point he fell into complete social breakdown. Instead of developing healthy behaviour patterns and getting negative feedback on harmful, anti-social ones, the AI “supported” him unconditionally, and he started to trust it more than he did the people around him. Really kind of tragic because exposure to it destroyed an otherwise promising young man.

                                                          • Tollana1234567@lemmy.todayEnglish
                                                            2 days

                                                            basically an addiction, thats pretty extreme.

                                                  • orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                                                    4 days

                                                    This article surely meant to add “Again” to the title.

                                                    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.todayEnglish
                                                      3 days

                                                      people are having relationships with AI chatboxes, so yes it is.

                                                      • Pratai@piefed.caEnglish
                                                        3 days

                                                        In a related story, the sky is made of air.

                                                        • Zoe@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
                                                          4 days

                                                          I highly recommend the new audiobook Love at First Prompt by Bridget Todd. She talks to people who have formed relationships with chatbots, as well as experts and researchers, and I think she handles the topic with a lot of empathy and understanding. And I definitely had some misconceptions going into the book that I’m glad I learned weren’t true.

                                                          Ultimately, I think we shouldn’t blame end users for finding emotional intimacy in a chatbot that is designed to make users feel validated and emotionally supported. We should be asking why we’re allowing the tech CEOs who run the show to extract data on every aspect our lives and create this kind of emotionally and psychologically damaging technology in the first place.

                                                            • 🇨🇦GreenBeard🇨🇦@lemmy.caEnglish
                                                              4 days

                                                              Because the modern world runs on psychological manipulation. Has since the end of WWII. The economy as we know it is built on leveraging, manipulating, and exploiting our cognitive biases and psychological vulnerabilities. Today we give it gentle sounding names like “Marketing” and “Public Relations” and “Brand Identity Management”, but what it is, is the psychological warfare techniques developed during WWII, evolved during the cold war and weaponized against civilian populations to extract profit. This is just the latest evolution of a set of practices that goes back 75 years or more, which underpins every part of society as we know it in the modern world.

                                                            • Eternal192@anarchist.nexusEnglish
                                                              4 days

                                                              I know that anyone using AI or LLMs won’t come here but if there’s anyone that uses them than stop and tell anyone who you know is using them to stop, you’ll help yourself, others that might be more vulnerable and you’ll help the planet and as a bonus you’ll stick it to the rich that don’t care about anything other than money.

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