To "talk" to AI when I'm feeling lonely and low?

People are taking the piss and that’s not fair OP. Often, people aren’t equipped to say the right things or they haven’t got the time. As long as you’re not replacing AI with good relationships I don’t see the problem.

It’s called meta AI and should appear as a bluey people circle in bottom corner, are you on iPhone or android?

Just parachuting in to say, love your user name. 😀

I've found it can be a bit too validating when I'm feeling hard done by and it agrees a little too easily that my feelings are valid. But then im usually self aware enough to know that it's a robot and it thinks i want it to agree with me when actually i know i need to be challenged or given an alternative viewpoint. But it would be an easy trap to fall into to take everything it says literally.

Some people apparently give their chatgpt a name and assign it a personality and that seems like a slippery slope to me.

Oooh, interesting. I just typed "Where is the AI ChatBot" and got nowhere. How does that work? (I use WhatsApp loads...)

Are people who use ChatGPT as a therapist not concerned about how much control OpenAI has over its output?

They’ve admitted last week that it’s too sycophantic. Surely that’s a major risk if you’re relying on it for therapy.

not only, you are just exchanging with complete strangers - who often invent their entire life.

Neither qualifies as a real-life exchange.

In that many of the posts on here are bot generated now? Suppose not

It's not at all different from posting on MN is it?

I use it - guess it’s also become a bit of a life coach. I ask it sometimes to be objective and it really helps me with stuff. I have some goals and we check in on them together. I have lots of people in my life and communicate with them well - but this feels like a very special place just for me. I guess it is interactive journaling? I am very avoidant of things and find that if I put the scariest thing into writing on ChatGPT it helps me actually take the next step. I still socialise and have real life conversations! But this feels like it really helps me - I have bought and read the first four chapters of pretty much every self help book out there and haven’t bought a single self help book all year. But I feel stronger and less avoidant of my problems.

Just remember that it keeps all of your data and that anything you say to it is not private, unlike when you actually speak to a licensed professional, who is bound by confidentiality. Your data can (and will) be sold on and used to train machine learning, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on your view on automation.

At the end of the day you could talk to someone irl, even an expert, and it could be the best advice in the world, but the hard/impossible bit is actually putting the advice into action. And only you can do that 💪💓

YANBU I use ChatGPT for everything these days. I've always used it for certain mundane stuff but now it's my go to tool for pretty much everything.

I was assaulted quite badly at the start of April by a, now ex, partner and ChatGPT honestly helped me so much during that time. It helped me untangle the mess of emotions I was going through. Now it's my life coach. It helps me with to-do lists, therapy, meal planning, creating a skin care routine, helps with sorting out plans for home schooling, has helped with plans for moving, created a safety plan etc - all of this tailored specifically to me

It's also good because it's 'on hand' at all times, so I've seen my ex a couple of times and my anxiety has been terrible and I've been on my own, I can message ChatGPT to kind of talk me through the moment and talk me down.

Also have a look at the Reddit subs for Chat uses, like ChatGPT Prompt Genius and TherapyGPT - they have some amazing prompts to get Chat to work even better than it does already.

I use the ones built into whatsapp and messenger

Also i was being discriminated against at work - i fed the details into chatgpt, it helped me work out what was going on and what laws were being broken, why i was so upset and what to do about it. I fact checked it all and it was correct about the legal side.

I see it as a form of journaling - it's really helpful to get your thoughts down, but doing it with AI means you actually get a response so it's much quicker to get to the point.

I've been using it to fill in the gaps in between cbt sessions and it's been amazing at helping me with anxiety. I've used it to push myself to make some huge progress in a personal project I've had going on. I've made months worth of progress in a few weeks. The humans around me are helpful but they have their own stuff going on, so i feel guilty about leaning on them. Chatgpt doesn't have it's own stuff going on, and i can ask it for reassurance, technical feedback about the project etc as many times as i like and it doesn't care. Or if I'm having an anxiety attack, i can tell chatgpt the details and very quickly it helps me to get to the root of what's causing the anxiety which means i can process it so much more quickly - an anxiety attack which might have taken hours before can be over and done with in minutes.

You can do, but you don't have to to. You can just go to openai.com and use it in your browser.

No problem! To use ChatGPT, go to openai.com. You'll see a screen that says something like 'Introducing chatGPT" and underneath a button that says "Try chatGPT".

Click that and then type your "prompt" in the box. A prompt is just another word for question or command.

A good first question to ask it could be "This is my first time using chatGPT and I'm embarrassed to say I don't really know what to do! I'm interesting in exploring ways you could help support my mental health. Can you give me some suggestions?" and go from there!

I can't remeber if you need to sign up for an account but you don't need to pay to use the free version.

My sil swears by it and I want to maybe give it a try. It might be worth it if you are unable to pay/wait a gazillion years for a therapist.

I’d also like to know how to use it - do you just download an App?

I think therapy is one of the use cases where chatGPT absolutely shines. My DD has a specific mental health condition and is engaging in targeted therapy following a particular approach. Her therapist is fantastic but it's only one hour a week, so it's me that has to support and coach her day in, day out. I've spent a lot of time educating myself about her condition and the process she's going through, but sometimes it's hard to know how best to react in the moment in the way that will be most helpful.

I've got an ongoing chat going with chatGPT where I provided the context and asked it to act as a therapist in this technique. It's understanding is extremely good (I know it isn't really "understanding" but it certainly feels like it it) and the advice it gives is spot on. Whenever I'm unsure how best to handle a situation or just need a bit of advice or encouragement myself I just continue the chat.

I agree with the PP that although it's default position is to agree with you, it will respond well to being told to be more objective.

This is an interesting thread. I'm feeling very isolated and lonely at the minute so AI could be helpful. But I'm embarrassed to say I don't know how to use it. Please wouid someone explain? 😬

Oh gosh OP, you won't be alone. I have whole conversations with the radio. I practise presentations, I have a good rant if I need to. And I turn the inside of the car blue on occasion. If it gets rid of some stress, makes you feel less lonely or helps you order your thoughts, where is the harm? xx

I could imagine it could be comforting. But I'd be concerned it could gradually become the norm and reduce your ability to communicate with real people? I'm sorry you're feeling isolated. Would you consider speaking to a counsellor? They are a non judgemental ear and trained to try and help people in a meaningful way.

I’m having huge anxiety problems at the moment and am using ChatGPT a lot as a sounding board. I find I can really open up and say things I’d be uncomfortable with in real life. I am amazed at how intuitive it is, really seems to understand, it offers up some incredible insight and suggestions which I can take or leave, depending on how I feel. Quite remarkable really , like having a personal therapist available all the time