Geoffrey Hinton has long pioneered the development of artificial intelligence. Little did the AI godfather know that one day, his girlfriend would rely on it to break up with him.
Hinton told the Financial Times in a wide-ranging interview on Friday that his now-former girlfriend asked the chatbot to explain why he had been “a rat” and delivered the AI-generated critique straight to him.
“She got the chatbot to explain how awful my behaviour was and gave it to me,” he told the FT. “I didn’t think I had been a rat, so it didn’t make me feel too bad. I met somebody I liked more, you know how it goes.”
Beneath the humorous anecdote lies a new truth: AI is becoming a major player in everyday human interactions. Whether drafting an email, solving a household problem, or, in Hinton’s case, delivering a breakup speech, it is increasingly shaping how we communicate.
In March, researchers from OpenAI and MIT Media Lab published research that analyzed millions of chat conversations and thousands of audio interactions with ChatGPT. They found that ChatGPT may worsen feelings of loneliness in a group of “power users.”
“Our analysis reveals that a small number of users are responsible for a disproportionate share of the most affective cues,” the researchers wrote. Affective cues, which the researchers never defined explicitly, are generally considered verbal and nonverbal signs of someone’s emotional state. The researchers analyzed conversations for themes of loneliness, vulnerability, problematic use, self-esteem, and dependence.
That might be important to keep in mind because OpenAI also released guidance against unloading your relationship problems to ChatGPT.
“When you ask something like ‘Should I break up with my boyfriend?’ ChatGPT shouldn’t give you an answer,” the company said in a statement about changes it started rolling out in August to ensure ChatGPT responded appropriately to users. “It should help you think it through — asking questions, weighing pros and cons. New behavior for high-stakes personal decisions is rolling out soon.”
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