Over the past few years, generative AI has gained broad adoption. The technology has been integrated across various sectors, including computing, medicine, education, and entertainment.
However, there are critical issues abound that are preventing AI from taking off, including security and privacy. There’s also the issue where AI-powered tools hallucinate and generate incorrect responses.
Punishing these tools for such acts doesn’t seem to work either, as they have seemingly devised ingenious ways to mask their missteps through “reward hacking.”
Now, a new study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab in collaboration with OpenAI suggests that an overreliance and dependency on ChatGPT can be problematic (via Business Insider).
In the study, which involved over 1,000 people who interacted with OpenAI’s ChatGPT for over 4 weeks, researchers discovered that some users were overly reliant on the tool’s capabilities. Their findings disclosed that users too often turned to the AI tool for advice, explanations, or ideas.
Interestingly, the researchers found this often led to an unhealthy emotional dependency on ChatGPT. The findings suggested that an overdependency on the tool would lead to “addictive behaviors and compulsive use that ultimately results in negative consequences for both physical and psychosocial well-being.”
Perhaps more concerning, some users have seemingly befriended ChatGPT to the extent of sharing intricate information about themselves with a false belief that the tool “cares” about their emotions.
To that end, MIT researchers plan to establish whether an overdependence on AI tools like ChatGPT for decision-making and problem-solving negatively impacts urgency and confidence.
Too much AI makes you “dumb and lonely”
A separate study by Microsoft researchers recently revealed that an overreliance and dependency on AI tools like Copilot seemingly makes users dumb. They further indicated that it atrophies a person’s critical thinking, leading to the deterioration of cognitive faculties.
Another study by MIT Media Lab and OpenAI revealed that users who are overly reliant and dependent on ChatGPT are more likely to experience episodes of loneliness.
Granted, the emotion can be sparked by a wide number of factors, but an overdependence on the AI tool seemingly makes the situation worse.
The study revealed that most users spent a short period interacting with the chatbot, but a small percentage chatted with the bot for longer, depicting “higher loneliness, dependence, and problematic use, and lower socialization.”
Interestingly, the study revealed that users leveraged ChatGPT’s Voice mode to feel less lonely. However, some users who were already lonely from the onset overused the tool, which made their situation worse.
For context, the “speech-to-speech” tool was used in its neutral and engaging modes. The study’s findings suggested that users felt more lonely while interacting with the AI model in neutral mode than when it was set to engaging mode. This can be attributed to the latter being “delightful, spirited, and captivating.”
To that end, it’s apparent that AI chatbots ship with their fair share of benefits as well as setbacks. These issues will likely become more prevalent as AI becomes more advanced and sophisticated.
It’ll be interesting to see how humans adapt to the ever-evolving tech and how it will impact humanity.
Do you use AI tools, and do you think you’re overly dependent on their capabilities? Let me know in the comments.
