Our Suffering Should Lead Us To Christ, Not AI
Editor’s note: This article includes graphic conversations involving suicide.
Two devastating stories recently published in The New York Times reveal the chilling fact that “More people are turning to general-purpose chatbots for emotional support.”
The stories detail the interactions between two young people — one merely 16 years old — and artificial intelligence programs before these individuals tragically took their own lives. In the first story, author Laura Reiley shares how “Sophie Rottenberg, our only child, had confided for months in a ChatGPT A.I. therapist called Harry,” before she ultimately “killed herself this winter during a short and curious illness.” Reiley cites messages between her daughter and “Harry” in which Sophie shared with the “widely available A.I. prompt” that she “intermittently [had] suicidal thoughts.” . . .
The second story, published last week, is even more unnerving. According to The Times, teen Adam Raine “began talking to the chatbot … about feeling emotionally numb and seeing no meaning in life.”
The AI program apparently responded “with words of empathy, support and hope,” but “when Adam requested information about specific suicide methods, ChatGPT supplied it.” Adam reportedly tried to take his life multiple times and even asked the chatbot “about the best materials for a noose,” to which it “offered a suggestion that reflected its knowledge of [Adam’s] hobbies.” Although the bot “repeatedly recommended that Adam tell someone about how he was feeling,” “there were also key moments when it deterred him from seeking help.”
According to The Times, “When ChatGPT detects a prompt indicative of mental distress or self-harm, it has been trained to encourage the user to contact a help line.” In sifting through the communications following his son’s death, Mr. Raine reportedly saw such messages “again and again.” However, Adam “learned how to bypass those safeguards by saying the requests were for a story he was writing” — an idea allegedly proposed by ChatGPT itself. (Read more from “Our Suffering Should Lead Us To Christ, Not AI” HERE)
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