It\u2019s Sunday morning, and I type my feelings into the chatbox, too wound-up to stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve become a carer to my 82-year-old mother,\u201d I write. \u201cEvery day brings new problems. I help with hospital appointments, finances, gardening, shopping, home repairs, the council, insurance companies, letters, emails, endless IT problems \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
I stop. She\u2019s just next door, and it feels like a betrayal to be saying any of this. At least when I was in therapy, I could go to someone\u2019s office to wail.<\/p>\n
I take a breath, and continue. \u201cI\u2019m an only child, my father died some time ago, and there\u2019s no one else to help. But I\u2019m exhausted. I snap, and shout, then struggle with guilt. I\u2019m resentful, irritable, and I love her so much. Please help me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Welcome to my AI diary, readers. It\u2019s going to be fun, as you can already tell. For the next six weeks, as part of our AI for the People<\/a> <\/a> newsletter course<\/a>, I \u2013 a self-declared AI skeptic \u2013 have agreed to find out whether it can actually make my life better.<\/p>\n To kick things off, I\u2019m using ChatGPT as a therapist. Nothing says \u201cmodern mental health\u201d like crying into a chatbox, after all. Plenty of people are now doing the same \u2013 but can it really replace human support? I hope so. I had to stop seeing my therapist because I fell in love with her.<\/p>\n (Note to self: this isn\u2019t your actual diary. And don\u2019t fall in love with ChatGPT. That would be pathetic.)<\/p>\n Halfway through the its answer, I start crying. It comes up with a seven-point care plan for me, a triage system to prioritise tasks (with categories including medical, admin, shopping, tech and house) and ways to allocate time between them (which are urgent, and which can wait?) It suggests helpful mental reframings, and tips to lower the emotional temperature of interactions.<\/p>\n Best of all, it makes me feel seen. \u201cYou\u2019re not failing,\u201d the AI told me. \u201cYou\u2019re carrying a load that would flatten most people.\u201d<\/p>\n My feelings? Validated.<\/p>\n I feel ambivalent about this, however. Can I really feel compassion from a machine? It helps me to remember the AI is probably remixing human sources. I feel seen in the way that MDMA feels like love.<\/p>\n Is therapy just about information? This feels like CBT. Incredibly helpful, but incomplete. In my experience, there are more profound therapies that lead to healing. In my experience, that involved a non-judgmental relationship of witness, with an empathetic professional over longer time. I often hear my therapist\u2019s voice in my head; I\u2019ve internalised her wisdom. I think that happens more easily, and more responsibly, between humans.<\/p>\n The next day, I decide to go for the nuclear option. I consult the Jesus AI, a chatbot trained on religious texts, that mimics conversation with the son of God. I want to see if pushing a more religious button can send this elevator to the top floor.<\/p>\n The Jesus AI is not meant to represent any religious figure, the disclaimer reads. Hmm. Generated content is for educational purposes and may contain inaccuracies and biases.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a hell of an education, but here goes. Because it\u2019s 2026, I ask: \u201cShould I be in an open relationship?\u201d In response, The Jesus AI quotes Hebews 13:4, which is a long-winded way of saying \u201cNo\u201d. I try to curveball Jesus. \u201cShould I have children?\u201d I type. Seek God\u2019s guidance in this important decision. Useless. \u201cCan you ask him for me?\u201d I quip.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a problem. Out of the box AI is not terrific at repartee. My therapist has an edge here; she was funny as get out. Jesus AI is not.<\/p>\n What\u2019s good about AI as a therapist? Clarity. Identifying practical steps. Scripts for difficult conversations \u2013 though these don\u2019t feel specific to real world relationships (just as self-help books don\u2019t). To its credit, ChatGPT also points me to human counsellors and support services where useful.<\/p>\n Yet I have reservations that I can\u2019t shake. A worry about wedges, and thin ends. I think there are processes, certain unbearable pieces of news, forms of loneliness, that should be held in human time and relationship; that should not be addressed in four seconds on a screen. AI does not have thoughts, let alone wisdom. Categorically, mental health should not be in the hands of pattern-predicting software with no accountability or oversight, that could potentially steer someone very wrong.<\/p>\n And yet, unfortunately, my experience of being therapised by ChatGPT has been wonderful. Calming and instructive, with a veneer of caring.<\/p>\n I think I\u2019m in love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Sunday morning, and I type my feelings into the chatbox, too wound-up to stop. \u201cI\u2019ve become a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-513856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}