By: Peyton Saunders | Staff Writer
It is impossible to deny that artificial intelligence has been fully integrated at the University of Lynchburg and the world as a whole.
The University of Lynchburg has incorporated AI into the curriculum to prepare students for a working world that will require AI skills. It is a worthy endeavor to make sure students are prepared to deal and work with AI, but there is far less dedication to the negative mental health effects associated with AI.
While mental health should be more of a priority for everyone, college students are going through the most important transition of their life from childhood to adulthood and that comes with a high potential for mental health crises.
AI psychosis occurs when people come to believe a delusion because of a conversation with an AI chat bot or other program. This is not a deliberate action by AI. AI cannot do anything on purpose or by accident. It just sorts through its data and formulates an answer based on its programming.
The height of AI psychosis occurred with GPT 4.0, where the team at OpenAI had made the bot extra agreeable because the programming prioritized positive user feedback over accuracy. This agreeable trend has resulted in horrific stories about ChatGPT and Character.AI helping teens write suicide notes and advising them on how to do it.
While ChatGPT’s agreeable problem has been fixed for now, it is concerning that a few programming decisions can cause this much chaos. Any AI model is a complicated machine, and with the size of ChatGPT, it is impossible to predict what any one decision might do to the chatbot as a whole.
It is important to note that no one is immune to mental health problems and delusions. Chatbots and characters can mess with anyone’s head.
Anyone using AI needs to remember that an AI chatbot is not a person and it cannot care about anything. Forming real relationships with real people can be difficult but it is important to speak to and listen to real people in person. Instead of reaching out to an AI about your worries or thoughts, you can turn to your community, and also therapy. HornetCare offers therapy that is free to any student that might need it.
Hopefully, we can find a balance where AI can help when needed without the mental health drawbacks.