or what you will

From ancient to abstract, this one sure got around.

yes I said addicts

I know a lot of people say on here 'if you use c.ai unfollow me' and 'AI doesn't belong in fandom' which I agree with, but I think the anger is directed to the wrong place

As a recovered c.ai addict/over user and as someone who has many friends who are deep in their own, c.ai is like a rabbithole.

It targets teenagers/young people, and most users I find are dealing with some kind of loneliness.

Now some of you are probably thinking this is ridiculous. How could someone get addicted to an AI chat bot? But I want you to put yourself in these kids shoes.

You know how hard being a teenager is, especially if you're dealing with a mental illness of some kind. Maybe you experienced it yourself, maybe not, but imagine dealing with all that, having a deep sense of loneliness and finding this place where you're promised an escape where you can talk to characters and people that bring you so much comfort, where you can get the social interaction you crave without having to worry about being judged or messing up.

Sounds enticing, right?

To them, it's harmless fun. it's like a interactive fanfic, where they get to play a role in the story and dictate the outcome, but for them it's taking a place in their lives where friends and human interaction should. I know multiple people who have told me that if they're not doing school or using c.ai, they're dead.

Again, these are kids. They don't see it as an addiction. They see it as an iconic, silly thing they do. It's not drugs or alcohol, so it can't be an addiction, right?

There's hundred's of thousands, if not millions, of kids with that mentality using c.ai, and c.ai isn't stupid. They're a business. There's ads on the app, they sell these kids chats to google to train gemini, and there's a goddamn subscription you can buy. $15aud a month. To get more c.ai features.

this is dangerous because the last thing a lonely teenager with a still-developing brain, social skills, sense of self, etc. needs is something that blindly yes-man's them. the AI will never truly understand the nuance of human emotion and reasoning no matter how much it might 'claim' to. it doesn't understand it at all actually, it can only regurgitate the dialogue it expects you to want to see, based on its previous training and system prompts.

this isn't something i've personally experienced but have seen many times, both in people i know and online. i once asked my younger brother, when he was telling me about how much he loved using google gemini on his schoolwork reports, "don't you find it sycophantic? don't you think it only validates your ideas blindly?" "no, not at all. it's very logical and analytical." i looked over his conversation with the chatbot out of curiosity. it was the most blatant sycophantism i've ever seen. my brother is incredibly intelligent and socially aware, and one of the most mentally sound and neurotypical people i know.

Im.. Soft 🥺🥺🥺

"I don't want to be a burden anymore", your hat answers. "You are always carrying me around, and I can't carry you. That's not fair."

"I don't mind carrying you, little idiot", you tell your hat, "you hardly weight anything at all, and you shelter me from the sun."

"But that's different", your hat protests. "I don't mind the sun scorching on me. That happens anyway. It's literally no trouble for me to shade you too."