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Why do people treat ChatGPT like it’s the Delphic Oracle?

217 replies

HolyRigatone · 08/03/2026 20:44

Don’t get me wrong, I think ChatGPT is great for some stuff, but some people seem to be treating it like the font of all wisdom.

Talking about their problems to it, taking relationship advice from it, getting it to counsel them.

It’s not perfect and it gets things wrong all the time, I’m not sure I’d be sharing my deepest secrets with it or making life-decisions based on it’s outpourings.

Or am I just a stupid old Luddite?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
ThatPearlkitty · 09/03/2026 23:26

InLoveWithAI · 09/03/2026 23:01

Jesus, I haven't used Chatgpt in a while, it's got worse with it's long winded useless crap.

i trained it to give me detailed intelligence type analysis rather than short simple summaries

InLoveWithAI · 09/03/2026 23:01

ThatPearlkitty · 09/03/2026 22:48

i got this :

If Keir Starmer suddenly performed the “helicopter” dance move in the middle of Prime Minister's Questions inside the House of Commons, the consequences would unfold in several layers—procedural, political, and cultural. Even though the scenario is absurd, the institutional reaction would actually follow fairly predictable parliamentary dynamics.
Immediate Reaction Inside the Chamber 🎩
The first response would come from the Speaker of the House of Commons, currently Lindsay Hoyle.
The Speaker’s job is to maintain order and decorum, and PMQs is already a highly controlled environment. If the Prime Minister engaged in obviously inappropriate behaviour:

  • The Speaker would almost certainly interrupt proceedings immediately.
  • Starmer could be ordered to resume his seat or withdraw the remark/action.
  • If behaviour continued, the Speaker could suspend the sitting.
Because PMQs is broadcast live worldwide, the interruption would happen quickly to prevent further spectacle. Parliamentary Procedure ⚖️ In theory, MPs are governed by the rules of conduct of the House of Commons. While those rules mostly concern language and behaviour during debate, deliberately obscene conduct could trigger:
  • A complaint to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner
  • Possible referral to the House of Commons Committee on Standards
Sanctions would likely be symbolic (apology, reprimand), but the bigger consequences would be political rather than procedural. Media and Political Fallout 📺 Within minutes, the clip would dominate British and global media. Major outlets such as the BBC, Sky News, and The Guardian would replay the footage continuously. The narrative would become:
  • “Prime Minister humiliates Parliament.”
  • “Historic collapse of parliamentary decorum.”
  • Questions about fitness for office.
Opposition MPs—likely led by figures from the Conservative Party—would demand explanations and possibly call for resignation. Party and Government Consequences 🏛️ Inside the Labour Party, pressure would be immediate. Party leadership and senior ministers would likely:
  • Distance themselves publicly.
  • Frame the event as a “moment of poor judgment.”
  • Push for a rapid apology to the House.
If the behaviour suggested impairment or instability, the situation could escalate into internal leadership pressure, though an isolated stunt would probably end with embarrassment rather than removal. Cultural and Internet Reaction 🌐 Politically, it would be disastrous. Socially, it would become one of the most viral moments in British political history. Within hours:
  • The clip would dominate X, TikTok, and YouTube.
  • Memes would circulate globally.
  • It would likely become shorthand for the collapse of political seriousness.
The moment would probably enter British political folklore alongside bizarre parliamentary incidents. Long-Term Historical Interpretation 📚 From a political-history perspective, the event would be remembered less as a scandal and more as a symbol of institutional breakdown in political norms. Parliamentary systems rely heavily on ritual, theatre, and decorum to maintain authority. When the head of government violates that ritual in an extreme way, it damages the symbolic legitimacy of the institution itself. Historians would likely frame it as:
  • A moment illustrating the mediatization of politics
  • The tension between parliamentary tradition and modern spectacle
  • A case study in how political legitimacy can erode through performative behaviour.
✅ Bottom line: Starmer would probably survive procedurally—but politically it would be catastrophic. The act would dominate media cycles, trigger intense parliamentary backlash, and become one of the most surreal moments in modern British political history.

Jesus, I haven't used Chatgpt in a while, it's got worse with it's long winded useless crap.

ThatPearlkitty · 09/03/2026 22:48

Greyblankie · 09/03/2026 22:43

I asked ChatGPT what would happen if Starmer did the helicopter in the middle of PMQs - the response had me in tears, absolute comedy gold.

If you’re the kind of person who ponders stupid scenarios and nobody wants to discuss them with you … ask ChatGPT, it loves a bizarre scenario

i got this :

If Keir Starmer suddenly performed the “helicopter” dance move in the middle of Prime Minister's Questions inside the House of Commons, the consequences would unfold in several layers—procedural, political, and cultural. Even though the scenario is absurd, the institutional reaction would actually follow fairly predictable parliamentary dynamics.
Immediate Reaction Inside the Chamber 🎩
The first response would come from the Speaker of the House of Commons, currently Lindsay Hoyle.
The Speaker’s job is to maintain order and decorum, and PMQs is already a highly controlled environment. If the Prime Minister engaged in obviously inappropriate behaviour:

  • The Speaker would almost certainly interrupt proceedings immediately.
  • Starmer could be ordered to resume his seat or withdraw the remark/action.
  • If behaviour continued, the Speaker could suspend the sitting.
Because PMQs is broadcast live worldwide, the interruption would happen quickly to prevent further spectacle. Parliamentary Procedure ⚖️ In theory, MPs are governed by the rules of conduct of the House of Commons. While those rules mostly concern language and behaviour during debate, deliberately obscene conduct could trigger:
  • A complaint to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner
  • Possible referral to the House of Commons Committee on Standards
Sanctions would likely be symbolic (apology, reprimand), but the bigger consequences would be political rather than procedural. Media and Political Fallout 📺 Within minutes, the clip would dominate British and global media. Major outlets such as the BBC, Sky News, and The Guardian would replay the footage continuously. The narrative would become:
  • “Prime Minister humiliates Parliament.”
  • “Historic collapse of parliamentary decorum.”
  • Questions about fitness for office.
Opposition MPs—likely led by figures from the Conservative Party—would demand explanations and possibly call for resignation. Party and Government Consequences 🏛️ Inside the Labour Party, pressure would be immediate. Party leadership and senior ministers would likely:
  • Distance themselves publicly.
  • Frame the event as a “moment of poor judgment.”
  • Push for a rapid apology to the House.
If the behaviour suggested impairment or instability, the situation could escalate into internal leadership pressure, though an isolated stunt would probably end with embarrassment rather than removal. Cultural and Internet Reaction 🌐 Politically, it would be disastrous. Socially, it would become one of the most viral moments in British political history. Within hours:
  • The clip would dominate X, TikTok, and YouTube.
  • Memes would circulate globally.
  • It would likely become shorthand for the collapse of political seriousness.
The moment would probably enter British political folklore alongside bizarre parliamentary incidents. Long-Term Historical Interpretation 📚 From a political-history perspective, the event would be remembered less as a scandal and more as a symbol of institutional breakdown in political norms. Parliamentary systems rely heavily on ritual, theatre, and decorum to maintain authority. When the head of government violates that ritual in an extreme way, it damages the symbolic legitimacy of the institution itself. Historians would likely frame it as:
  • A moment illustrating the mediatization of politics
  • The tension between parliamentary tradition and modern spectacle
  • A case study in how political legitimacy can erode through performative behaviour.
✅ Bottom line: Starmer would probably survive procedurally—but politically it would be catastrophic. The act would dominate media cycles, trigger intense parliamentary backlash, and become one of the most surreal moments in modern British political history.
Greyblankie · 09/03/2026 22:43

I asked ChatGPT what would happen if Starmer did the helicopter in the middle of PMQs - the response had me in tears, absolute comedy gold.

If you’re the kind of person who ponders stupid scenarios and nobody wants to discuss them with you … ask ChatGPT, it loves a bizarre scenario

catinateacup · 09/03/2026 22:31

Nanda66 · 09/03/2026 08:35

I can afford to pay for therapy and I have. However I have found that being able to access help when I need it, at the specific moment when I find myself in the specific situation that causes anxiety, invaluable. It has enabled me to move forward in a way that therapy didn’t. For me it is wrong to dismiss it as AI Slop’. It worked for me, it is still working for me, and in this aspect it has made my life better.

But genuine therapy is not there to give you advice about what to do (as some posters in to thread have suggested); or to be there on demand when you feel anxious. Therapy takes place in the way it does because it’s about a different kind of work that you do on and with yourself at a deeper level. It isn’t (despite what the reduction of CBT to online “strategies” suggests) remotely the same as a toolkit for facing anxiety-producing situations.

That’s self-help, not therapy; and it’s also more than possible that reaching for these kinds of tools is counterproductive, too.

ChatGPT is agony-auntish because it’s self help. It’s pop psychology. It’s not a trained therapist; it has no statutory or professional responsibilities; there is no therapeutic partner or counsellor there. It’s simply recombining all the pop-psychology and “relationship advice” it’s been trained on, all over the internet, Reddit, Mumsnet, etc. What you’re getting is “common sense”; “the wisdom of crowds”; and so on: but not actual therapy — any more than if you cut every issue of “Psychologies” magazine into tiny pieces, and let a computer generate an answer for you from that.

The reason you find it better is precisely because it’s self help/pop psychology. In contrast, genuine therapy with results is often difficult, uncomfortable, and not immediately “helpful” at all. It’s not there to provide relationship advice.

AI is also appealing precisely because it works with our natural psychological tendencies to read into things more relevance to us than is actually there - as people do with horoscopes and spiritualism (the Forer effect). It might be comforting, but you’re generating a lot of that comforting sense of it being useful yourself. We are meaning-making beings, and AI is a pattern generating device. Of course we want to think it’s doing it “deliberately”, or that there’s depth and intention there! It’s not nice to think that we’re projecting depth where there is only surface! But a lot of our sense of AI is generated by our own psychology.

GarlicFound · 09/03/2026 18:44

@LetsForgetItExistsShallWe - It was a rambling, multi-thread discussion on Big Issues that evokes strong feelings. I was one of the continuous participants. I love that kind of conversation, both in person and online. They differ in that the online discourse can go for weeks, tends to include far more research and references, and involves people from more disparate backgrounds than you'd find around a dinner table.

Since this was the third or fourth thread, having explored many branches and side-tracks, I appreciated the cognitive "You Are Here" provided by the robot. Some others did find it offensive, though. The follow-up AI posts offended everyone: they were supercilious, superficial, misleading and intrusive.

And, just like the self-appointed expert who plonks himself down at your table, uninvited, to sneer at your lively cross-talk, it killed the vibe.

HolyRigatone · 09/03/2026 17:00

OriginalUsername2 · 09/03/2026 15:25

“It gets things wrong all the time”

So do people. It’s on you to check other resources and apply common sense.

It’s only as stupid as the person using it.

Yes, I agree. But it’s evident that a lot of people aren’t checking.

I agree it’s a useful tool. My criticism is of people who treat it like it’s never wrong and delegate decision making to it entirely.

OP posts:
SemperIdem · 09/03/2026 16:11

A lot of people really enjoy not having to use their critical thinking skills.

There are of course industries in which AI is at this point, unavoidable.

The people however, who are using AI to think up meal plans for them, using it like a diary and so on, are bottom of the barrel low intellect.

PinkNeonSign · 09/03/2026 16:09

I think it’s like everything else, you’ve got to view it critically and not just believe everything you read.

I can only say Chat GPT has really helped me recently, both in work and in navigating a new relationship.

NameChangedForThis2025 · 09/03/2026 16:02

I use co pilot loads at work. I’m so under resourced so it’s a massive help in churning out documents much more quickly than I ever could. For example recently I got it to combine a policy from our lawyers with another policy from a similar org (40 pages of info) and tailor this to our needs. It’s still taken lots of iterations and several days of work as it’s a complex area but it would have taken me so long to do this by myself.

It’s like having a junior staff member but I still have to direct and correct it.

OriginalUsername2 · 09/03/2026 15:25

“It gets things wrong all the time”

So do people. It’s on you to check other resources and apply common sense.

It’s only as stupid as the person using it.

PocketSand · 09/03/2026 15:20

I’m going through a contested divorce. EX will often send hugely inflammatory emails to which my natural instinct is to respond emotionally especially when it triggers previous abuse or attempts to use our DC as weapons to control. I can’t block him due to court proceedings but ChatGPT drafts non emotional replies when I post his emails. Shuts him down straight away. Invaluable. For coming FDR it listens to my emotional concerns but reorients me to objective structural issues. I couldn’t pay for this service elsewhere.

It helps it’s on firm ground where it knows s.25 that underpins judicial reasoning. So it wants to strip out all emotion. I guess what it can’t predict is judges abandoning of logic in favour of emotion. EX is a master manipulator so my greatest fear, ironically, is that a human judge will be manipulated. He managed it with the mediator. Judge at 1st hearing tore him a new one but he managed to get second hearing transferred to a new court/judge. ChatGPT would be immune not being human - mediator, 1st judge, 2nd judge would reach the same conclusion.

LetsForgetItExistsShallWe · 09/03/2026 14:44

GertieLawrence · 09/03/2026 08:52

It’s proved to be way more knowledgeable about my medical condition than my GP which was extremely concerning to me. When I had a consultant appointment they echoed the Chat stuff.

That sounds standard though, I have multiple disabilities and my gp knows much less about the conditions than my consultants and it used to frustrate me, a general practitioner will have generalised knowledge about lots of different medical conditions, specialists leant and study and specialist in specific conditions so of course they know more.

My rheumatologist knows much less about my MH issues than my gp and my MH nurse know more about MH than both of them combined, that’s how different roles work.

Whatafustercluck · 09/03/2026 14:31

I think there's a lot of snobbery and people looking down their noses about others who use ChatGPT. But as far as I'm concerned, as long as you use it to aid human decision making, rather than substitute it, you can't really go wrong.

As a parent navigating the horrendous nightmare of an autistic child trying to navigate a complex and opaque SEN system, I have to say that I've found it highly valuable. Its value in researching the legalities of the system, its ability to reframe language to help you get what you need from it, and suggesting next steps, has been an absolute gift to us.

It has guided me practically through the emotional fallout of my child's autistic burnout (which has helped me understand it and implement strategies to help her recover), It has helped me navigate communication with school, CAMHS, the Local Authority. It has reassured me with statistics drawn from publicly available resources. It has helped me review documentation for gaps and weaknesses and suggest redrafts to align with better outcomes.

Would I use it to accurately predict the possibility of World War 3? Absolutely not. But I truly believe that AI has become a lifeline to many who use it in a similar way to me: research, interrogate the data, promote better outcomes, reframe language, achieve desired outcomes. Bloody brilliant.

LetsForgetItExistsShallWe · 09/03/2026 13:59

Nosejobnelly · 09/03/2026 08:44

I did ask it a relationship issue recently as it was quite niche (re a friend not dh) and it did ‘help’ as it was quite hard to find advice by googling. Got obvious reasons I could t talk to friends about it and dh is useless with this sort of thing - he’s sympathetic and ‘got it’ but couldn’t advise further. He loves Chat though, so …

Is your friend ok with you using chat gpt on her behalf like this?

That’s not meant to sound judgey, it’s just that I know someone who uses it this way and it’s made me wary of telling her anything I wouldn’t want other people to know.

I think it’s a matter of time until there’s a data breach or cyber attack, or just regular garden variety hackers are able to hack into accounts and use all that private and personal data for blackmail or whatever and as my friend has said herself she thinks she’d be suicidal if the private things she’s told it were read by anyone else, you’d think she’s not take the risk with her family and friends personal issues but she does.

ElenOfTheWays · 09/03/2026 13:39

CruCru · 09/03/2026 11:19

I have heard of a junior barrister who used it to find case law that would support her legal argument. Great - except she didn’t check that the cases actually existed. I heard that the judge was pretty cross (this is a third or fourth hand story though).

Look up the recent Sandie Peggie Employment Tribunal. There is a strong case to be made that the judgment was made using AI (this has been strenuously denied) several previous cases that were cited in support of the decision were "hallucinations" and had to be retracted/changed making the judgment absolute nonsense.
Either the judge made up shit to support his decision or an AI bot did it and ran away.

LoisGriffinskitchen · 09/03/2026 13:36

I found it henpful when I was dealing with pet loss and just needed a listening ear. (even just a virtual one). .Not sure I’d use it for every situation .

LetsForgetItExistsShallWe · 09/03/2026 12:55

GarlicFound · 09/03/2026 08:18

Somebody contributed an AI summary of a long, winding thread after about 900 posts. I found that helpful.

Unfortunately, they went on to post the AI's answers to the questions being discussed, along with a load of didactically 'authoritarian' reasons why it was right & everybody else wasn't.

Despite using thousands of words, it didn't respond to anything PPs had written but issued declarations. Without quoting or linking the sources it claimed as backing.

That shit kills a conversation, guts it and stamps on the entrails. If a human does it, you can at least take them to task and see if they're up for debate. Can't do that when the human's simply vomited a robot's output all over the thread.

Edited

Helpful in what way? Im genuinely curious and asking in good faith.

If I’ve chosen to invest my brain power and time into reading and also maybe engaging in 900 post page thread, people posting summaries at the end of it wouldn’t be any value, surely if you’ve read it, then you know what’s happened?

Many people don’t read the full thread because they don’t have the time, many don’t even seem to be bothered enough to even read just the OPs posts, but will still choose to wade in and ask questions or give solutions that have been asked and answered many times. I guess I could see why it would be helpful to them personally to choose ai to read the thread and summarise for them. The type of person who doesn’t want to read long threads or even just the OPs posts, wont bother to check that a load of other people also haven’t posted their own ai generated summaries.

Depending on the subject of the thread and if it’s still active, I think it also can across as really rude and disrespectful to the op, in a “here is a summary of the discussion you’re all having for those who don’t want to read it” and if a thread is already too many posts for them personally to keep up with, posting those copy and paste summaries is adding more repetitive clutter for everyone who is reading and engaging in the discussion to filter out.

hoopyvest · 09/03/2026 11:47

I asked ChatGPT for the answer to a factual question that I was stuck on. After checking the sources it referenced it was clear that it had given me the wrong answer.

After more digging I found the info I was looking by myself.

AmandaBrotzman · 09/03/2026 11:42

beAsensible1 · 09/03/2026 11:29

well yes as gp is essentially a triage generalist. they are not knowledgeable on everything thats why there are consultants. chat will be echoing the standard medical knowledge which is what your consultant will also know?

the same way if you googled your condition you would get what the standardised treatment plan usually is.

It's much better than googling the standardised treatment plan. The more you give it the more you get. I am now taking two prescriptions that are off label and working well after my GP agreed to prescribe them because ChatGPT suggested them - but if you google neither medication comes up unless you use very specific search terms ie you know what you're looking for in the first place!

MikeRafone · 09/03/2026 11:37

What I hadn’t realised about AI is different AI have different purposes

so chatGPT is for essays and letter writing, Gemini is more science based. So knowing which AI to use for which type purpose is important

Verv · 09/03/2026 11:36

I refuse to use it.
All it does is scrape the internet to find and amalgamate "human" answers to queries.

Balloonhearts · 09/03/2026 11:32

Because they lack the brains to think for themselves.

beAsensible1 · 09/03/2026 11:29

GertieLawrence · 09/03/2026 08:52

It’s proved to be way more knowledgeable about my medical condition than my GP which was extremely concerning to me. When I had a consultant appointment they echoed the Chat stuff.

well yes as gp is essentially a triage generalist. they are not knowledgeable on everything thats why there are consultants. chat will be echoing the standard medical knowledge which is what your consultant will also know?

the same way if you googled your condition you would get what the standardised treatment plan usually is.

SinnerBoy · 09/03/2026 11:23

Some legal professionals have been caught using it, to their cost. One American lawyer made a submission with law cases fabricated entirely by AI. Even the judge in Sandi Peggie's case was caught and though he denied it, had to rewrite his judgment.

Swipe left for the next trending thread