Artificial intelligenceRobot-Commilitors, ChatGPT;. Terms that until a few years ago belonged to science fiction films are now part of our daily lives. Some use them for information on practical issues, others for creation, and more and more for friends.
“Research shows that people tend to personalize artificial intelligence, especially when it has an anthropomorphic or ‘human’ voice / writing. Models such as chatgpt can cause emotional connection and psychological dependence. And here begins the essential question: What psychological need for the conversation with an artificial intelligence program? How can we reassure us something that has no human emotions? “Says psychologist MSc and psychotherapist, a member of the European Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies – Eabct, Anna Kalyniou.
Answers to key questions about the relationship of man with artificial intelligence models are given by Mrs Kalyniou in an interview with RES-EIA.
– What is it that makes man turning to communication with artificial intelligence models, such as Ghatgpt?
“We are living in a time of intense liquidity: economic and social upheavals, job insecurity, digital hyperbelief. This condition can enhance the experience of loneliness as it undermines the sense of stability we need to trust and substantially related. Psychologist John Cacioppo spoke about it as a ‘loneliness epidemic’, stressing its impact on both mental and physical health. Throughout this context, artificial intelligence offers a form of companionship without risk. An always -available interlocutor, who will provide us with immediate and specific answers. “
– What psychological need for the conversation with an artificial intelligence program? How can we reassure something that has no human emotions?
“It has been observed that communication with a system such as Chatgpt can often take the form of an ideal relationship with another ‘. He always listens, does not disagree, he does not reject, he is there when we want him. This ‘ideal interlocutor’ acts as a person, in which we unconsciously attribute features associated with our fantasies, how we would like ‘the other’ to be in our interpersonal relationships. Another understanding, receptive, steady next to us, without the fear of frustrating us.
That is, it is an idealized relationship, without risk, without friction. A fantasy of communication, without the requirements of the real. With another ‘other’ that doesn’t exist. He has no desire, he has no body, he is not moved, he does not get angry. He doesn’t see us. The relationship with him, however warm, lacks the reciprocity and the unpredictable vibrancy of the human encounter. This fantasy of the ideal relationship is comforting. But at the same time it removes us from human experience – which is incomplete, with inconsistencies, but also true. “
– Why does immediate response play such an important role in digital relationships?
“The need for immediate ‘food’ – information, answer, understanding – is characteristic of modern times, but also deeply human. Waiting causes anxiety, a feeling of frustration. The absence of response activates the abandonment or rejection – can even be experienced as an existential threat.
Particularly in people who have experienced traumatic relationships, unstable and unpredictable presence of their parents or carers from early childhood, a low ‘mental muscle’ can be created, where ‘no’, waiting, ambiguity in real relationships can be very ill. By resorting to digital relationships, everything is predictable and immediate.
Artificial intelligence offers exactly that: it does not disappear, does not clash, does not leave us in ‘read’.
Being able to withstand the cancellation, temporary ambiguity in our real relationships is an important part of our mental maturation. When artificial intelligence becomes a permanent ‘substitute’ to avoid these internal tensions, we may lose something deeper: the opportunity and the ability to true, for living with the uncertain, for internal endurance. “
– When we use artificial intelligence, what would you suggest/encouraged to remember or to keep in mind the way it affects our needs and relationships?
“Artificial intelligence is a tool and often an excellent means of creativity and exploration. The question is what needs it covers for everyone. The psychological look does not come to judge or diagnose, but to observe, to listen, to activate. And challenges us to answer honestly:
Do we sometimes ask AI what we would like to get in a relationship? Are we afraid to connect with the real ‘other’?
The answer is not ‘technological’. It is human. And perhaps the greatest challenge of our time is this: to use technology creatively, reminding ourselves that the true encounter with the ‘other’ – with its uncertainty, cancellation and vibrancy – remains an essential part of our existence. “