AI started off as a digital playground, something for people to experiment, make silly images, and ask random questions. But it has significantly and quickly grown into a global phenomenon; people utilize and tailor AI as a tool for their own specific needs. For the most part, some of those needs are pretty reasonable requests, like studying for a test, finding recipes, doing research on a project, etc.
But recently, people have started asking AI more personal questions that go beyond productivity. They’re asking AI to analyze their relationships, venting to AI about their personal life, sharing intimate details of their life and others to AI, asking AI for advice, and even seeking comfort when they’re sad or lonely.
This is a stark difference between how ChatGPT was intended to be used as a tool for resources, and how it is currently being used as a therapist or a friend. Somehow, along the way, the difference became completely blurred. And as the day progresses, we are becoming more comfortable turning to AI for things we normally speak to humans about by the minute; it begs the question: Why are we so comfortable letting AI know so much about our lives?
The newest trend on the block, known as “654321,” originally started as a countdown trend where people asked their significant others, friends, and loved ones to name six things that they say a lot, five things that they love about them, four things that they’re obsessed with, three assumptions that they have of them, two pieces of advice for their future selves, and their one major takeaway of their relationship.
It has since spawned its own spin-off, where instead of asking an actual person these questions, people are turning to ChatGPT for the answer, and surprisingly, ChatGPT knows just as much, if not more, than a best friend would know.
Thousands of users on TikTok have jumped on the trend or similar ones, where it all boils down to ChatGPT knowing ginormous amounts of information about you and cultivating it into a funny and relatable meme. As I looked further into this rabbit hole, I couldn’t help but realize that in all the videos, even though they all served different purposes, they all have one thing in common: people are lonely.
While it’s easy to look at these videos and judge the creators for talking about their feelings to something that isn’t even human, in my opinion, this is a glaring example of how the youth yearn for community and want to be heard and validated.
For those who rely on AI for community, it can feel comforting to have someone, or something, listen to their woes, remember the little things they say, and comfort them during a rough patch, especially when you lack that kind of connection and relationship with other people in your real life. It can create a sense of parasocial intimacy between the user and the AI, since the chatbots reflect and validate the person’s feelings to them.
Generational gap with ai
“About one in eight U.S. adolescents and young adults in the U.S. are turning to AI chatbots for mental health advice, with use most common among those ages 18 to 21”
Juan Siliezar, Brown researcher
These days, everybody and their mother uses AI; it doesn’t matter how old you are. Every generation has talked to ChatGPT at least once. The question remains: why is it that it is mostly Gen Z turning AI into a therapist?
While Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials are no strangers to AI (we’ve all been sent an AI Facebook sticker from our grandparents at one time or another), studies have shown that Gen Z is one of the largest groups rapidly turning to AI for mental health and emotional support.
Ryan K. McBain, senior policy researcher at RAND and lead author of the study, says, “AI chatbots are already part of how many young people seek advice about their mental health…The speed of growth is attention-grabbing, but so is the fact that most young people who use these tools for mental health advice say they are not telling anyone.”
This phenomenon has raised questions and concerns among experts regarding the youth’s overreliance on AI for emotional support, especially when many young people do not feel comfortable sharing their struggles with others.
GEN Z LONELINESS & ISOLATION
But maybe the bigger question isn’t why Gen Z is turning to AI for emotional support. The real question we need to ask ourselves is why so many of us feel the need to turn to a chatbot in the first place. How is it that in a generation that has easy access to technology readily at their fingertips, many young people still experience loneliness and isolation?
While the term “The Loneliest Generation” is rather off-putting, it couldn’t be more accurate. According to several experts, there are a multitude of reasons for Gen Z loneliness, ranging from excessive phone use to the COVID-19 pandemic to economic stress. All of these factors lead to the lack of social skills that Gen Z is currently facing today, contributing to the AI replacement of connecting with other people.
It is important to note that the youth talking and venting to ChatGPT about their problem is a symptom of a larger problem within a society that already pushes out an “every man for themselves” individualistic mindset. Combined with all the challenges Gen Z has faced, it is understandable why some people will turn to AI for comfort and support. However, even so, while AI can offer immediate gratification and validation, it can never replace the importance of real connection you make from human relationships.
AI is not going away any time soon, and as AI continues to become a bigger part of our daily lives, we must reckon amongst ourselves with what we want to gain from using these tools. AI can be useful for a lot of things: entertainment, studying, research, and even a distraction at times, but it should never distract you or be substituted for real human connection. The question of whether AI will become part of our lives no longer holds weight because it already is. Now we must ask ourselves: how much information are we willing to give to it?