This is the thing. I’ll bet most of those million don’t have another support system. For certain it’s inferior in every way to professional mental health providers, but does it save lives? I think it’ll be a while before we have solid answers for that, but I would imagine lives saved by having ChatGPT > lives saved by having nothing.
The other question is how many people could access professional services but won’t because they use ChatGPT instead. I would expect them to have worse outcomes. Someone needs to put all the numbers together with a methodology for deriving those answers. Because the answer to this simple question is unknown.
tias@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
The anti-AI hivemind here will hate me for saying it but I’m willing to bet $100 that this saves a significant number of lives. It’s also indicative of how insufficient traditional mental health institutions are.
Perspectivist@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Even if we ignore the number of people it’s actually able to talk away from the brink the positive impact it’s having on the loneliness epidemic alone must be immense. Obviously talking to a chatbot isn’t ideal but it surely is better than nothing. Imagine the difference in being stranded on an abandoned island and having ChatGPT to talk with as opposed to talking to a volleyball with a face on it.
Personally I’m into so many things that my irl friends couldn’t care less about. I have so many regrets trying to initiate a discussion about these topics with them only to either get silence or a passive “nice” in return. ChatGPT has endless patience to engage with these topics and being vastly more knowledgeable than me it often also brings up alternative perspectives I hadn’t even thought of. Obviously I’d still much rather talk with an actual person but untill I’m able to meet one like that ChatGPT sure is a hell of a better than nothing.
This cynicism towards LLMs here truly boggles my mind. So many people seem to build their entire identity around feeling superior about themselves due to all the products and services they don’t use.
tias@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
I think they’re just scared as hell of the possible negative effects and react instinctively. But the cat is out of the bag and downvoting / hating on every post on Lemmy that mention positive sides is not going to help them steer the world into whatever alternative destiny that they’re hoping for.
The thing that puzzles me is that this is typically the hallmark of older more conservative generations, and I imagine that Lemmy has a relatively young demographic.
FosterMolasses@leminal.space 3 weeks ago
Ftr I’ve encountered a similar experience. I used to be a naysayer with shit like ChatGPT, thinking “Why would anyone spend all day talking to something that can’t pass a turing test?”
And then I realized how ill-equipped the people in my own life are to pass that test. At least a conversation with ChatGPT actually feels remotely intellectually stimulating lol
Perspectivist@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
LLMs ironically fail the Turing test not because they don’t sound human enough, but because they’re too knowledgeable to be mistaken for a real person.
atrielienz@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I’m going to say that while that’s probably true there’s something it leaves out.
For every life it saves it may just be postponing or causing the loss of other lives. This is because it’s not a healthcare professional and it will absolutely help to mask a lot of poor mental health symptoms which just kicks the can down the road.
It does not really help to save someone from getting hit by a bus today if they try to get hit by the bus again tomorrow and the day after and so on.
Do I think it may have a net positive effect in the short term? Yes. Do I believe that that positive effect stays a complete net positive in the long term? No.
Zombie@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
On the decentralised platform, with everyone from Russian tankies, to Portuguese anarchists, to American MAGAts and everything in between on it? If you say so…
chunes@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You must be new to lemmy if you don’t know that AI definitely qualifies as a hivemind topic here.
al_Kaholic@lemmynsfw.com 3 weeks ago
Why till ai starts telling people to murder.
minorkeys@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Wait till it shapes beliefs and behaviors in service to AIs owners and we all end up devoted to whichever corporate tribe we used.
al_Kaholic@lemmynsfw.com 2 weeks ago
That sounds like murder but with extra steps.