Wait, what's the problem with roleplay chatbot AI apps for teenagers? Aren't they mostly harmless, aside from just a few cases? I thought you were pro-AI?
i'm not "pro-AI", and i think that "pro-" or "anti-" AI are completely meaningless labels. i agree that there is nothing conceptually problematic about a chatbot existing, or about a teenager using one--however the marketing for this shit, much like the marketing for chatgpt which is a similarly evil product, expressly attempts to sell it as a replacement for socialization, as a friend and companion. this is what i pithily called alienation-as-a-service, which as well as being extremely deceptive about the capabilities and realities of this technology is also obviously predatory and antisocial. like, the pitch for this is clearly 'replace your existing social ties with Our Product':
and i think that's an evil pitch to make!
& that said, there are also ways that chatbots can be harmful--i don't think "AI psychosis" or "AI addiction" are useful frameworks or in fact anything more than moral panics, but intentionally sycophantic model like chatgpt 4o or deceptive models like facebook's AIs that give out random addresses as their own (!) can be dangerous and harmful in much the same way as any technology designed to maximize engagement and time-on-device without any consideration to externalities can be (e.g. twitter, slot machines). i don't necessarily know if this is true of Shape Sink's models but i am frankly not jazzed to give them the benefit of the doubt based on their marketing
