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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/dec/03/the-chatgpt-secret-is-that-text-message-from-your-friend-your-lover-or-a-robot>
"When Tim first tried ChatGPT, he wasn’t very impressed. He had a play around,
but ended up cancelling his subscription. Then he started having marriage
troubles. Seeking to alleviate his soul-searching and sleepless nights, he took
up journalling and found it beneficial. From there, it was a small step to
unburdening himself to the chatbot, he says: “ChatGPT is the perfect journal –
because it will talk back.”
Tim started telling the platform about himself, his wife, Jill, and their
recurring conflicts. They have been married for nearly 20 years, but still
struggle to communicate; during arguments, Tim wants to talk things through,
while Jill seeks space. ChatGPT has helped him to understand their differences
and manage his own emotional responses, Tim says. He likens it to a friend “who
can help translate from ‘husband’ to ‘wife’ and back, and tell me if I’m being
reasonable”.
He uses the platform to draft loving texts to send to Jill, calm down after an
argument and even role-play difficult conversations, prompting it to stand in
for himself or Jill, so that he might respond better in the moment. Jill is
aware that he uses ChatGPT for personal development, he says – if maybe not the
extent. “But she’s noticed a big change in how I show up in the relationship.”
When the free-to-use chatbot was launched in November 2022, it became the
fastest-growing platform in history, amassing one million users in five days.
Two years later, ChatGPT is not only more powerful but increasingly
commonplace. According to its developer, OpenAI, more than 200 million people
are using it weekly – and not just for work.
ChatGPT is gaining popularity as a personal cheerleader, life coach and even
pocket therapist. The singer Lily Allen recently said on her podcast that she
uses ChatGPT to mediate text arguments with her husband, using prompts such as
“add in a bit about how I think this is all actually to do with his mum”. The
novelist Andrew O’Hagan said he uses another chatbot to turn people down,
calling it his “new best friend”.
It shows how – steadily, but subtly – generative AI is making inroads into our
personal and professional lives. “It’s everywhere, and it’s happened so
quickly. We really don’t have any way of addressing or understanding it yet,”
says Ella Hafermalz, an associate professor of work and technology at Vrije
Universiteit Amsterdam.
In a recent study, Hafermalz and her colleagues found that in the workplace,
people are increasingly turning to ChatGPT with their questions rather than
asking their colleagues or manager, which can cause problems with
organisational effectiveness and personal relations. “The technology is bad
enough at the moment that people are getting burnt … but it is seductive,” she
says."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
