Falling for AI? Congrats, You’re Dating a Spreadsheet - Error Code Show

0:00 Parish social relationships used to be very simple, right? You would project feelings onto celebrities, TV host or streamers that didn't actually know you existed. It was one sided, but at least it was transparent, right? And AI kind of flips that dynamic. These chat bots and digital friends pretend to know you. They remember your likes mimic your empathy and feedback exactly what keeps you engaged like you're kind of addicted to it. And this isn't connection. This is programming.

0:41 Every response is designed to make you spend more time, share more data, get more emotionally hooked to that AI bot. And unlike a celebrity or a creator, an AI personality isn't even a person. It's a product, a product engineered to act like your best friend, to act like your partner, your therapist, depending on whatever is going on that will help keep you coming back to it. The danger here isn't just loneliness, right? It's dependence. People can end up getting confused. with scripting attention for genuine care. And that makes it easier for companies to exploit those bonds. At its core, this isn't about relationships. It's actually about control.

1:35 AI -driven parasocialities aren't human connection. They're corporate design simulations of it. And like someone said in chat, Tom, We should all be very cautious about this. This is this is kind of this kind of creepy. So what do you think, Alex? Well, this started out with with you discussing somebody suing about their their child taking their own life because of some stuff they were doing with the chatbot. I mentioned that I've seen some reddit stuff where people are like marrying their chatbot buddies that they name. Um, there's been some high profile stuff with these chat bots. Obviously there's now adults chat bots Right for the for the sexting and the the the simulated, you know corn, right? Um And this again kind of comes back to our last topic Which is is when are we going to get some some, you know, some sort of regulatory framework around this? Um I do think that this does present a new danger. Like you said, you know, people weren't parasocial relationships before, right? They would, you know, get attached to, you know, celebrities or creators and kind of invent these parasocial relationships in their minds. Sometimes it's fantasy. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's across that line and then we have law enforcement involved, things like that. But this to me and not not

3:06 for the app, but for people is much more dangerous. You know, we've heard the memes and the jokes about, you know, well, men are just going to start, you know, doing it with bots because screw it, you know. And I'm like, that's not a good thing. You know, and then again, yeah, you get down to people trying to treat them like therapists, you know, and then you've got this next note in here that I like, which this was one of your original notes on this. Yeah. um should ai ever be trusted with mental health conversations yeah should they be allowed to engage with the most vulnerable discussions at all um and then you've got this question here which i really like uh what responsibility does a company have when its ai is used for support um whether it be intentionally or not well exactly you know and what what responsibility does it have for the outcomes of those interactions and that's that to me is really really it's a difficult question right like this part of me looks like well you know it's the people who are being dependent on it but it is these companies these corporations these massive mega corporations because these aren't small companies either right these massive mega corporations who are creating these bots and and letting them loose into the wild without a regulatory framework and allowing them to do this you know And and what I mean, what do you think? Do you think they bear an

4:39 ethical responsibility, a moral responsibility, a fiscal responsibility? Criminally liable. I think if they know their product is being used, I'm going to kind of go to like the extreme end here. If they know that their product is being used to provide like therapy. To somebody I am and they continue to let it happen. I do think they're liable Because here here's the thing Well, it at least doesn't stop families from attempting to sue companies right like anyone can sue anybody so it at least kind of opens that door, but I go to therapy right and Obviously, my therapist has a master's degree in psychology or something. I don't know. She has a lot of certs and a lot of different things. But the point is she can pick up on the very small things like, Hey, like, I noticed that you're not actually looking at me. Maybe you're looking over here a lot. Maybe you're just saying like, Oh, I'm tired. No, everything's fine. But maybe I just sound a little different that day. Like she can pick up on that. Right. And be like kind of pro

6:09 further. She can also send emergency services to my house to evaluate me if she deemed that that was necessary. And these AI bots are it's programming. It's cold. It's they don't have a human interaction. So if you have an individual that is going in there saying I'm depressed. Right. And this is really sad to me because maybe this person either a doesn't have a job. Maybe they're still in like high school. Maybe they can't afford therapy or their family can't afford therapy. Maybe they don't have insurance, whatever. So they're seeking like this very cheap way of getting therapy. If a company knows that is happening and that their their product is being used to give. vulnerable people advice that could potentially lead someone down the road of self -harm, let's say, YouTube algorithm. I think they are. I think they're liable. Well, and I think you hit on it and I was, you kind of went there. And the thing that strikes me more is if you're a psychiatrist, psychologist, therapist, There are boards and organizations that hold you to both an ethical and a legal standard. If you violate just the ethical standards, hey, you can't do this anymore.

7:39 We just don't let you, right? You're done. And it can be pushed all the way to criminal or civil liability, right? Whether you go to jail, whether you do this. Also, you are a mandatory reporter, right? If somebody comes in, if I'm a psychologist and somebody comes in and says to them, I am going to kill someone or I'm having a thought about having homicidal thoughts about my co -workers, they are legally obligated to report it to the authorities. An AI chatbot and the corporation that it's created by does not have that legal liability, does not have that legal requirement.

8:29 You know and like you said if your therapist is like I think you're going to self -harm Right. I feel like you're a danger to yourself. I Am again a mandatory reporter. I am required to ensure that steps are taken Right up to and including and again This kind of goes back to what happened in Minneapolis last week that we didn't really want to talk about But this is what it is in Washington State. We have red flag laws right where If they feel like you are a danger to yourself, they can contact law enforcement and ensure you don't have access to firearms for a temporary period of time, which is probably a good idea. Whereas again, the AI chat bot has no, they're not going to notify law enforcement that, you know, Jimmy over there told them that they want to go shoot up a school, right? and we've seen what happens with some of these AIs. Look what happened when Microsoft let that one AI loose and it was learning from Twitter and how fast it went out of control, right? What I'm saying is that there's no box here that lets us be controlled.

9:40 And then again, especially when you start talking about miners who could get access to firearms, you know, who... who are particularly vulnerable because their prefrontal cortex is not fully fucking developed yet, right? I mean, how many times when you're a kid did you think somebody liked you just because they, you know, smiled at you funny, right? Let alone what an AI chatbot can simulate to a minor, again, in a completely simulated environment that could make that minor start to develop feelings and thoughts and things that are supremely unhealthy, right? And again, I think that that we are just refusing. And this goes back to what we talked about in the last segment. I don't trust that this current administration because this has to be done at the federal level.

10:30 Right. Because it's again, you can get access to a chat bot from anywhere. Right. I don't think that the current our current government, the way that it's structured and built. is in a position to fucking regulate this the way that it absolutely needs to be. You know what I mean? Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, and. I remember what six years ago, maybe six to ten years ago, Everyone's talking about the dangers of, you know, like Facebook, Twitter, everything on like young, undeveloped minds. And I actually read a few studies about how like this generation who was brought up always with a phone or a tablet in front of them who always had social media. They're more depressed than other generations and it kind of some of the theories that are read this might be outdated now, but some of the theories that are read was we have this like primal instinct to try to make our tribe be to try to fit in

12:03 with your tribe. So typically this you know before social media would be like your family or friends. Now it's everyone online. And everyone online is trying to be fake. They're trying to look cool. They're trying to make sure that everything is OK. Mm hmm. And one that creates issues when obviously you're a kid and you're like, oh, everyone else is fine, but I'm not fine. Right. And then also. It creates issues because the bullying will just never stop like you used to be able to go home. and go to your friend's house or whatever and escape the bowling. But now it's 24 -7. It comes with you. Yeah. Now take that a step further with an AI bot. And I think it's the same exact thing of you have something that is going to continuously learn from you. And from everything else it's talking to. Yeah, and how to make itself more addicted or addictive to whoever it's talking to and It's not healthy like if social media wasn't healthy for kids.

13:22 I don't know five six ten years ago AI is way worse I I can't say as I disagree with that sentiment. I'm trying to think of a way around this and again We talked about in the last segment that AI can be a tool that can be extremely useful and helpful to to all kinds of tasks and things like that. But again, I yeah, I wish I had more faith in our government. It reminds me of I don't know if you ever watched like when the the CEO of TikTok, Shochu or Zuckerberg or any of those guys are testifying before Congress. Right. And every time I would watch those hearings just for the funny meat, because it would like Mr.

14:09 TikTok, is the internet in my phone right now? Can the internet talk to me? Like, explain algorithm, you know? And so the thing that I would watch those hearings and go, this is why you guys can't regulate shit, because you don't understand. Right and like even if it wasn't even the silliest ones It was real basic ones like can it read my Wi -Fi and he's like, well if you hook it up to your Wi -Fi I mean, it's it's connected to your Wi -Fi. Yeah but they like like their complete lack of understanding of basic technical concepts Right that again are to anybody under the age of 45 are just common knowledge, you know, and so this is again why I think we're gonna be 20 years behind because by the time the people who get into power Right are the age where they understand what the fuck is going on It's gonna be 20 years after we needed these regulations And so instead of being proactive with regulating these industries that desperately need it Right and even at one point the CEO of open AI was like you need to regulate us We're gonna keep operating in this unregulated environment because we have to because our competitors are as well We're not gonna give ourselves extra rules Right that our competitors aren't using but you should be regulating the CEO of opening I was like regulate the AI industry and they're

15:39 like What's an AI? You know and again and because you know Congressman and senators refuse to fucking retire, you know and and young people are just annoyed with the system and aren't running for office. You know, the fact of the matter is, is again, what should be basic common technical knowledge shit that we just know they just don't get, you know, and so we're not being proactive. We're going to end up always about 15 years behind the eight ball when it comes to to regulating these, I think. You know, I would be surprised if we had any meaningful regulation before the end of this decade. Yeah. We at least need age restriction and liability loss, right? You guys got to start making these guys liable for shit that goes sideways. At least civilly, you know, because it will making Microsoft civilly liable or, you know, any of these AI companies civilly liable for the actions of their AI if it does something wackadoodle, right? data retention records. You got to get that stuff in there.

16:56 I don't want to come in here and be like, make regulations and not give some suggestions. Data retention tools, they got to log these chats so that you can go back and do investigations and they need to be held civilly liable. And somebody in the chat brought up, will they be held accountable as a manufacturing defect discovered or an employee that acts negligent slash maliciously? And I think that there is a difference between those two. Sadly, not just this administration, but administrations for a long time have had a hard time with going after corporate bad actors. So I think that's another thing we need to fix and fix that by getting rid of Citizens United. Right. But, yeah, I mean, there is some very common sense regulations you could put in place for artificial intelligence that would make it function better. Or safer, I should say. Yeah.

17:58 I'd say do something, Congress, but I know you're not going to. All right. With that, we'll leave that topic alone for the time being. Thank you guys for posting that one. Let us know what you think. What are your suggestions for AI regulation? Let us know what you think down in the comments below.