ChatGPT may be making us lonelier

A new pair of studies from MIT Media Lab and OpenAI found that those who use the chatbot most heavily also experience the most loneliness. The catch-22: it’s unclear whether this is caused by the chatbot itself or if lonely individuals are simply more likely to seek out emotional bonds.

Researchers analyzed millions of interactions and found that only a small number of users rely on ChatGPT for emotional support—but those who do are among its heaviest users. The MIT study found that higher daily usage of ChatGPT “correlated with higher loneliness, dependence, and problematic use, and lower socialization.” Since loneliness is a tricky feeling to quantify, researchers said they measured both users’ subjective feelings of loneliness and their actual levels of socialization.

The studies also found that heavy users were more likely to consider the chatbot a “friend” or attribute human-like emotions to it. Those engaging in “personal” conversations with the chatbot reported the highest levels of loneliness. If they set the chatbot’s voice mode to the opposite gender, those levels were even higher.

It’s been over two years since OpenAI released ChatGPT. While researchers emphasize that these studies are preliminary, they reinforce existing concerns about how AI chatbot tools are affecting people’s lives—both online and offline. ChatGPT attracts 400 million users weekly worldwide. Some use it to win arguments or even as a substitute for therapy, despite warnings from health professionals. Others call ChatGPT their “best friend.”

“Interactions with chatbots that cater to your preferences and are trained to be as polite and affirming as possible might help in the moment when you interact with them, but they also slowly chip away from your ability to deal with the messy real world and complex human interactions,” says Sandra Matz, Columbia Business School professor and author of MINDMASTERS: The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior.

“The problem is that we’d need to understand this more causally by assigning people to use or not use chatbots and then studying the impact of these experiences on loneliness,” she adds. “Obviously, something that comes with ethical questions if we’re playing around with people’s experience of loneliness.”

There’s been increasing scrutiny of the negative effects of interacting with AI chatbots—and for good reason. Decades later, researchers are still trying to fully grasp the impact social media has had on mental health. When it comes to AI chatbots—well, I guess we’ll check in again in a couple of years and see.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91307190/chatgpt-may-be-making-us-lonelier?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss

Creado 5mo | 28 mar 2025, 10:40:03


Inicia sesión para agregar comentarios

Otros mensajes en este grupo.

Philips CEO Jeff DiLullo on how AI is changing healthcare today

AI is quietly reshaping the efficiency, power, and potential of U.S. h

18 ago 2025, 21:10:07 | Fast company - tech
How satellites and orbiting weapons make space the new battlefield

As Russia held its Victory Day parade this year, hackers backing the Kremlin hijacked an orbiting satel

18 ago 2025, 21:10:06 | Fast company - tech
Meta spent $27 million protecting Mark Zuckerberg last year, more than any other CEO

The targeted murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December put the business w

18 ago 2025, 21:10:05 | Fast company - tech
Tesla lowers monthly lease fee due to UK sales slump

British motorists can now lease a Tesla

18 ago 2025, 21:10:05 | Fast company - tech
Google fined $36 million for anticompetitive deals with Australia’s largest telcos

Google has agreed to pay a 55 million Australian dollar ($36 million) fine for signing anticompetitive deals with Australia’s two largest telecommun

18 ago 2025, 18:50:02 | Fast company - tech
‘Pips,’ a new logic puzzle from New York Times Games, might just be your next ‘Wordle’

On an average day, tens of millions of people visit The New York Times Games section to solve the latest crossword puzzle, keep their

18 ago 2025, 16:30:05 | Fast company - tech
Crowdfunded companies are ‘ghosting’ investors. Changing the rules could restore trust

Imagine you invest $500 to help a startup get off the ground through investment crowdfunding. The pitch is slick, the platform feels

18 ago 2025, 9:30:05 | Fast company - tech