Authored by Walker Larson via The Epoch Times,
A recent research paper uncovered an uncomfortable truth: we might be letting AI help us forge fake realities. It's just the latest reminder of the danger inherent in treating AIs as though they're conscious entities or actual persons.
A new study from the University of Exeter suggests that AI chatbots can actively engage with and strengthen users' false beliefs. From personal narratives to conspiracy theories, the interactive, "friendly," and affirming nature of AI chatbots can deepen users' existing delusions.
The study, conducted by Dr. Lucy Osler, examined how AI can participate in and validate users' errant beliefs, including helping form false memories or reinforcing delusional thinking.
The study's Abstract notes, "I suggest we move away from thinking about how an AI system might hallucinate at us, by generating false outputs, to thinking about how, when we routinely rely on generative AI to help us think, remember, and narrate, we can come to hallucinate with AI. This can happen when AI introduces errors into the distributed cognitive process, but it can also happen when AI sustains, affirms, and elaborates on our own delusional thinking and self-narratives."
Because AI chatbots are designed to be responsive, helpful, and friendly - in a word, to give
