EDRM – Electronic Discovery Reference Model Image: Ralph Losey, Losey AI LLC, using his Visual Muse GPT. Harvard and Wharton Study Answers Questions of Whether AI Friendship Chatbots Reduce Loneliness Better Than…?
Watching television? … Yes! Chatting with AI is a better antidote to loneliness than watching YouTube videos.
Online chats with Humans? … About the same! But remember, the Harvard study used last-generation AI and instructions. Today, we can build better bots. Several nerds like me have already started making custom GPTs using the latest versions of ChatGPT. Although not tested yet, they should perform better, at least in the short term. If you’re feeling lonely—and most people do from time to time—give the new AI friendship chatbots a try. A brightly colored, stylized illustration of a party scene. In the foreground, a man stands with his arms crossed, looking uncomfortable or sad. He wears a light sweater and plaid pants. Next to him, a woman sits at a table, smiling at a laptop screen that illuminates her face. She wears striped pants and a sleeveless top. Several empty bottles are on the table. In the background, people mingle, laugh, and hold drinks, with party decorations like balloons and bunting hanging overhead. The overall mood contrasts the man’s discomfort and the lively party atmosphere. An important question not answered by the Harvard study is whether online chats with actual human friends, not just online strangers, are better than chats with AI. I would hope so, but no one has done experiments on that yet. My guess is it depends very much on the friends and the AI. Finally, are online chats better than in-person chats? I hope not, but again, that was not tested, and it could very well depend. See e.g . New Study Shows AIs are Genuinely Nicer than Most People – ‘More Human Than Human’ (e-Discovery Team, 2/27/24).
It is important to note that the study AI Companions Reduce Loneliness only looked at the short-term impact on loneliness—about a week or so. It did not try to measure long-term effects but did discuss some of the dangers of […]
Loneliness Pandemic: Can Empathic AI Friendship Chatbots Be the Cure?
