The concept of being 4 months clean from ai...
idc what you guys think I'm proud of him
Several AI services (chatbots ) are purposely addictive, the same way people can become addicted to gambling or shopping. We’ve literally seen in real time how ChatGPT has caused psychosis and delusions in people; it can have a huge affect on someones’s mental stability. Just because it isn’t substance-based doesn’t mean that doesn’t count as an addiction, and shaming people who are trying to move on and improve themselves is counterproductive. Im proud of that dude and his 4 month mark!
AI chatbots can fuel emotional dependence and blur boundaries. Emerging research highlights significant mental health risks. Here are import
Large language models often prioritise agreeability over truthfulness to the detriment of users
AI addiction includes the overuse of AI chatbots and companions, often leading to adverse psychological effects.
Some articles to back my statements, and this isn’t even mentioning about the predatory chatbots who do this on purpose
Then I'll mention the predatory chatbots who do it on purpose! Character.ai is one of many AI chatbot websites that're designed to be addictive.
None of the signup methods require a password. It only takes email and birthday. Minimizing time on the signin or signup screen makes it harder for people quitting to avoid relapse.
"Characters" on the website will send messages "on their own" (prompted by the site) to try to invite inactive users back after as soon as 1 day of inactivity. This is likely to force FOMO, or make users feel more like they owe the bots a response. Unhealthy attachment stuff.
Account deletion is an essential part of every service that should go smoothly, right? Right? Wrong. It takes 1-2 weeks for a Character AI account deletion to be finalized, and account deletion requests have a high chance to not go through if you're not using the app.
Rephrasing: People leaving Character.AI are pushed to download the app in order to delete their accounts, if they haven't already. This makes it harder for people to quit and stay gone. Failing to quit an addiction makes it harder to quit successfully in the future, so this feels like a feature, not a bug. On top of that, the delete account menu reads like this:
Tell me THAT doesn't sound like a bad ex. It's a carefully crafted yet hostile environment to those who are already addicted to the technology. I am so so SO happy, downright delighted that they've managed to quit, and I wish the best for others in recovery spaces or considering quitting as well!! While AI addiction is an emerging condition, there are already therapists and other mental health professionals trained to help people plan to quit and do so a bit easier. (If anyone seeing this is in need of them, there are several tumblr Communities here devoted to quitting, too. They provide a mix of advice, venting spaces, and proof that you aren't alone.)
Eddie Burback made a 1 hour documentary where he decided to follow every piece of advice ChatGPT gave him and it ended up taking him on a journey of supreme paranoia and isolation that spanned like 3 desert locations and a motel, and it really exposes how sycophantic and even cultlike the entire the thing can become. It's like an individually personalized echo chamber:
In a time when people are craving human connection and unable to find it, AI models like this are explicitly predatory and bad.
