Gotta love that bodacious AI

For a discussion of the dangers inherent on our conversing with bots so intensely that we forget that we’re not having a real conversation, that we fail to realize that there’s actually no-one there, just a computer program, see Ezra Klein’s podcast hosted by The New York Times (paywall protected I fear) where he interviews Sherry Turkle, author of Artificial Intimacy: Who we become when we talk to machines (Little Brown, 2026). Maybe we’ll be able to figure out how to protect against recursive self improvement, but I rather doubt whether we can conjure up a form of legislative control which will prevent us from spilling our guts to a chatbot which we insist on treating as a real person, and even better, a person who never argues back at us. Now, I do find myself wondering about the concerns expressed by Mr Klein and Professor Turkle. Does it really cause a problem if someone bears their soul to a therapy app? May not be as valuable as getting a human response — but harmful? They both…

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