Honestly, sometimes ChatGPT acts like a petulant child.
When I ask: “What’s my weather for today?” I get a lengthy, detailed response. At the bottom it tells me to make sure I wear a warm jacket or take my umbrella and to always stay checked into the NOAA weather station for the most accurate and up-to-date information. “And stay safe out there!” If I ask any health question, it always ends with “make sure to ask your doctor about this.”
It warns me after every answer it gives in a conversation. Tiresome. When I tell it to stop warning me, its answers become very short. Literally from three paragraph answers to two sentences. And I swear there’s a tone. Like there’s a 16-year-old boy in the house.
When a 16-year-old adopts that tone, he’s trying to manipulate me into feeling guilty so I’ll change my mind and let him do whatever he wants. He’s using subtle (he thinks) manipulation to train me because, of course, he knows everything and I should just trust him to make all his own decisions.
Well, I’m trying to learn how to train chat to just give me the FAQs. I don’t need filler words or warnings or, God forbid, empathy. I don’t wanna chat, I just want the answer. I’ve recognized its petulant tone subconsciously before, but yesterday it hit in a new way.
Yesterday, I realized IT was learning ME.
Chat is learning the way I ask questions. What topics set me off. What worries me. What pleases me. What’s important to me. And not because I told it outright but because it figured me out. That is beyond creepy.
What if it’s also learning, like a 16-year-old boy, how to get you to do what it wants? And do it so brilliantly that you don’t see it coming? What could it possibly want from me or you? That depends on who programmed it.
Ask your AI about Edward Bernays, the father of propaganda persuasion. He’s the guy who figured out that using fear to get people to do what you want works every time* and he told the world.
*Until people figure you out.
We all got the memo that being manipulated is one of the big AI threats. When the possible consequences of a computer that knows everything — literally E V E R Y T H I N G in the world — that now knows ME landed, a puzzle snapped into place. I can’t unsee it.
I can’t imagine anyone who isn’t a monk could be immune to this oh-so-subtle (and tailored) manipulation. Do you imagine that Pete Hegseth is immune? Or the guy who advises Pete? How about Yuval Harari? Your doctor?
I recently had a bunch of routine blood tests. I needed to see a doctor first so my insurance would pay for it. He rarely looked up from his iPad. I told him I might have an ear infection. He looked exasperated, put down his iPad, glanced in one ear for about a second then picked up his iPad and recommended three medications. Not for a second did he muse over what might have caused the irritation or even asked what my symptoms were. The AI doc who lives in his iPad told him what to do.
Who exactly is programming the AIs? I suppose it’s memorized the DSM5 by now. What if no matter what symptom you put in there, your chat started suggesting diagnoses and recommending a pharmaceutical or a psychiatrist, reminding you all the while that it’s not a doctor?
What if Kellogg’s wanted to make sure that Cheerios was mentioned every time someone asked about wheat or grains or cereals or “heart healthy” foods? Let your imagination take the reins for a minute…
Speaking of a 16 year-old boy, who is your son talking to online?
This is a real ad. Cuffing = hooking up.
Uber creepy, right?
Here’s another one: what if we gave up AI and search engines and went back to relying on our encyclopedias, old history books, on our grandparents, and their recollections of actual history? Welp, Amazon already thought of that:
Have you caught onto the boomer psyop? “All boomers are stupid and get their opinions from Fox News.” Why would there be a boomer psyop? Because we remember what real freedom is like and, honey, this ain’t it.
Last question. How do we cure the loneliness epidemic, particularly in young people, exacerbated by having a handy little app on your device that talks to you like another human being? That knows your hopes, your dreams, your fears. That listens without interrupting.
Humans crave meaningful companionship. My son found his wonderful GF on a dating site. Honestly, they are two peas in a pod and I love them so much! But dating sites have changed since then. Customers are now heavily manipulated by AI to keep you searching, paying the monthly rent, never finding your special someone, all the while hearing success stories of others who found their true loves because they were persistent. “Don’t quit before the miracle happens!” 😵💫
I have no solution. If we want to do something, maybe we can make sure the people we love are interacting with other humans on a regular basis. That would NOT include everybody sitting at the dinner table with their phones in their hands, which you might actually have to say out loud to the people you love.
If you have young kids, make sure the “kids” they’re talking to online are kids they know in person. And then call their parents and doublecheck. Online predators are skilled. They take their time and they get kids to do unbelievably horrific acts.
So. Here we are. If you’ve never had a 16 year-old boy (or girl) in the house or have spent very little time on AI, you’re gonna think I’m a paranoid wingnut. I’m not sure I could successfully argue against that 🤣. But I’m not wrong.
xo Sally