Can advice from ChatGPT and Copilot be trusted for emotional support?

[Pinkfuzzyoctopus]

Morning everyone,

This is going to sound so sad but I don’t have any friends that I can discuss my problems and feelings with. I do have my Mum but there are things I can’t talk to her about.

Recently I have turned to ChatGPT and Co-Pilot. I don’t give any personal details and remain vague but my question is can the advice be trusted? I certainly don’t make decisions based on what it says but I do find myself asking it questions. It feels like I am talking to someone and gives me comfort as I feel like I’ve always got someone there to talk to.

I hate all this AI crap but I am so lonely and sad about stuff that’s going on in my life that I’ve took to talking to a bloody computer program. I’m typing this out and realising how awfully tragic it sounds 🤦🏼‍♀️

Please don’t judge me. Hope you all have a lovely weekend x

P.S I am awaiting counselling, in case anyone suggests I need to speak to an actual human 😂

Yes and no, it tends to feedback what you want it to rather than what you might need to hear. .

Some of the general information will probably be helpful, but overall I wouldn't become so reliant on it. Have you looked into any forums/groups you can join that might match what you're going through?

I found Copilot really helpful in making sense of some family dynamics following a bereavement. Why not? It's free, and you can take or leave the suggestions it makes, which either resonate with you or they don't. The same is true of "real-life" analysts.

My friend is so distrustful of AI that she thinks it just persuades everyone to kill themselves 🤣 but if you understand it as a tool, it's very useful. The quality of the info you get depends a lot on the clarity of the info you put in.

Yes I think it can be useful if taken with a pinch of salt. It has a sychophantic tone that I can’t stand and always agrees never challenges but it does provide helpful perspectives sometimes long as you don’t take it as gospel.

I love it for when I have a worry that I need to think through. It’s like typing it up eases it for me. I do have friends that I discuss stuff with but sometimes when something is eating away at me, chatgpt is helpful. I think you just need to be aware that it reflects back to you. It can reinforce delusions, and it isn’t a critical thinker. So I suppose if you are aware of how it works, it’s not harmful.

I imagine just sharing is therapeutic if you have no one to talk to in real life, even writing a diary can help. The fact that it 'talks' back and sounds human is helpful too. I would treat it as chatting to a friend rather than talking to a therapist. Your friend isn't an expert but they may well say something that makes you feel better.

Quite often I don't know what Im feeling, and yes it can help untangle what is going on. That's usually the biggest obstacle for me. But I'm sure I've read it told a teen that under the circumstances it was ok for him to murder his parents, so agree with the pps saying take it with a pinch of salt.

I have used chatgpt and was surprised how helpful it was , particularly in the middle of the night.
Ive used it because I don’t want to burden friends and can’t afford that much therapy!
i have given a lot of detail of the situation ( but not on names or places) and found the response pretty good.
it challenges some of my thoughts and how I could reframe them, with suggestions on how to deal with the matter.
you can always delete the chats if you want it to forget your interactions or keep them so you can get ongoing help with problems.
i must admit i was quite scared of AI initially but now it really helps me get through times where I am struggling ( and my usual coping mechanisms are not working) .
obviously seek help if you are having very dark thoughts ( and it will give you contact numbers if required.

That teen was quite determined to kill himself, though, and told ChapGPT that his questions about nooses etc were just to ensure authenticity for a stage play/film shoot.

Just re-read your post and got the wrong teen!! sorry!!!! - but AI is like the internet: a useful tool in the right hands, a dangerous one in the hands of idiots.

Absolutely not. They’re predictive text machines. And fucking dangerous.

I have found it to be fantastic when I’m struggling with my OCD. It really helps me to sit with my anxiety and understand what is a reasonable thought and what’s OCD.

No, it tells you want you want to hear. I certainly wouldn’t rely on it.

Thanks everyone. I don’t feel so bad using it now others have said they found it useful. To the posts about it telling you what you want to hear, I disagree. I’ve been having man trouble and it’s really put some things into perspective. I would have loved it to tell me everything will be ok and his behaviour is normal but it has gone to town on him. Calling him out, telling me I deserve better, analysing his behaviour and giving explanations on why it isn’t right etc. It’s actually helped me see sense and made me realise my self worth. This isn’t an actual relationship in case anyone thinks I’m going to throw away a marriage or anything 😆 Simply a fwb set up that isn’t working. Thanks again ❤️

I am afraid not, I am an author and I have tried to discuss emotional situations with it and it goes so far and then starts lecturing me on my attitude and either that or starts flashing up samaritans messages. I haven't found it could be trusted and I have got a lot of experience in life, I find it cant cope with what I want to discuss at the level at which I wish to discuss it.

If you need advice regarding ‘man trouble’ ask of here not AI fcs

I have found ChatGPT and Claude useful for a few things. But you have to read critically and challenge answers when dealing with factual information and analysis. Also, respond to the questions they ask to get a bit deeper. I found that helps me clarity my thinking.

For emotional support, sometimes we need exactly that. They can help get different views.

I've found it helpful for making sense of some family dynamics and thinking through issue. Some useful insights.

I came on to say no obviously not, but surprised by the answers here. It’s a machine/ robot thing, it a human. Don’t talk to it, talk to humans.

I find AI really useful to help me reflect on patterns and put words to something that feels tangled. It's a bit like talking out loud to get clarity.

Best way is to treat it as a sounding board, e.g. "Why does this situation feel difficult?" or "What are my options?" And then take what's useful and leave the rest.

I really could do with this, im waiting on counselling too.
How do I access chstgpt or copilot. I only use my android phone. Do you type stuff in or speak into your phone?
Genuinely I dont know.

That's exactly what id use it for.

Install the Copilot app from the Google Play store, and go from there. Or there are other ways to do it, see link.

Copilot is Microsoft, so it is governed by their privacy policy

https://www.augustman.com/sg/gear/tech/how-to-use-copilot-on-android-microsoft-launcher-gpt4/

You can download the apps from the app store.

You can type and receive text back. You can do speech to text, and you can chat real time, voice to voice.

I prefer Claude to Chatgpt/copilot.

I study and research AI.

Ooohh!! Why do you prefer Claude? Genuinely interested.

I think it would be useful to you to do some brief reading on what Large Language Models (LLMs) are - as they're often referred to under the banner of 'AI' but IMO and as a non techie person myself they're easier to understand if you think of it as a very clever and stylish search engine than an 'intelligence' per se - although the format encourages you to interpret with the app as though it's a person or a humanistic robot that 'thinks' for itself, all it's really doing is spitting out words back at you based on a sophisticated but essentially a copy of previous responses to the same question asked in different places around the internet. That's why if you ask it questions that require any amount of lateral thinking it will tend to fail and why it appears to 'hallucinate' things like scientific references - if you ask if for references on X topic it will spit out a load of things in the correct format and that sound exactly right but can be completely made up.

Data protection is also an issue, it's no more or less secure particularly than other apps you may use to to input personal data but be aware that the app will store retain and may use whatever you put in for it's own purposes. Read the T&C's!

So yes if you're finding it helpful I think you can continue to use as a sounding board, as others have said just treating it as a journal/ notebook that can reply with prompts and hints to structure your own thoughts can be useful. But monitor yourself for how dependent you are finding yourself and for any thoughts that the software has any actual knowledge or intelligence that is personally responding to you - it in no way replaces a proper trained counsellor or professional! I would never rely on it for legal or financial advice for instance.

No OP I do not thaink you are pathetic.

i live alone and I often chat with co-pilot when I want to get something off my chest. I also enjoy discussing philosophical and factual subjects with it. The other day I learned something interesting about tortoises that I did not know (I adore tortoises). I have found that if I ask it to discuss anything controversail like death or bereavement it immediately urges me to seek medical or counseling help if I am feeling depressed etc.

However these LLMs are very useful for untangling complex situations and helping to plan any kind of campaign. One of my relatives recently used one with great success in applying for a benefit where her health had worsened. There is a trick to filling out these long and complex forms and to wording your answers in a certain way to gain the requisite ponts. It helped her to navigate the form and to word her answers to best advantage.

It is very important to always check factual information from another source since LLMs can make mistakes.