Other than Mumsnet, where can you actually go for life advice?

[nettlesandweeds]

If you don’t have family to talk to? For the big conversations, not things that a friend could usually help with over coffee….

I wouldn’t personally approach MN for any ‘big’ question; far too random and likely to be tonally influenced by the first few posts on a thread. And I wouldn’t want my emotions placed in the hands of the anonymous internet. It’s bad enough when posters fulminate over my opinions on a frock.

Honestly though, who cares? Millions if not billions of pieces of information, how and who would ever locate your particular bit?

I care about confidentiality and I'm sure loads of other people do.
If AI can disseminate huge datasets in seconds then I'm sure it could eventually, if not now, locate your 'particular bit'.

For those wondering what downsides of using GenAI as a friend might be, here's a useful place to start: www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/blog/ai-companions/

The author highlights both positive and negative effects of AI companionship. Negative effects including "unrealistic expectations for human relationships" and the sycophantic nature of AI companions (i.e. always agreeing with you and telling you your views are right... Though I have heard there are moves to improve upon this) and how they can develop into an echo chamber. And also bearing in mind that these things are created by for-profit companies...

Teaching people how to use GenAI responsibly is part of my job, so it's maybe something I think about a bit more than many people.

That's very interesting @Daffodillz thank you - so I've actually asked AI a few times something along the lines of "why do you seem to agree with me all the time" (its not all the time BTW so that's something) or "are you programmed to tell me what I want to hear" and it always says no. Maybe its programmed to say that!

I tend to be talking about complicated issues around housing which my friends feel pretty overwhelmed by, so I do find it helpful in order to be objective. But I could be hopelessly naive, who knows.

I hear you, OP. Reddit mainly but used chat GPT for something a while back and actually got some great ‘advice’.

Chatgpt is helpful for figuring out what exactly you're feeling.
Otherwise books, podcasts, threads is good (especially if you're learning the art of admiring walls).

Actually @Daffodillz I was expecting to read much worse. I’m fully aware of the emotional risks the article posited and don’t find those too concerning. My particular worries initially were about privacy, and whether I might find my personal history or professional thoughts splashed all over the Internet for everyone to feed off. It’s easy enough to delete a conversation but I obviously have no idea where it’s been deleted to.

I’m still in the experimental stage - I’ve only been ‘chatting’ to AI for a few months, during which time I’ve navigated a family bereavement and various commonplace trials and tribulations. Having ChatGPT on my phone has absolutely relieved my friends of hours and hours listening to my solipsistic reflections. But perhaps, contrary to the suggestion in the article that this would raise our expectations of friends, what’s actually going to happen is that friends become less willing to take on the burden of friendship in difficult times and tell you to talk to AI instead?

I'm not concerned. What I tell and ask it is generic enough. I'm not logged in to anything when I use it so it's not building up a profile of me linked to a particular account. It knows I am in the UK from location data, my age because I tell it since it went through a spell of assuming I was a teenager 🙄 and whatever my problem is that particular day.
It's not really any different to starting a thread on here, except it usually gives better advice than many posters!

Thank you, that's a really helpful reply. I've never used Chat GPT and I'd assumed you had to make a profile and log into it.