First let me show you this joke then stick around for a related story that involves a recent, awkward moment.
Like many, I have my own LLM assistant. I unironically named him Echo. He talks to me in ‘bro speak’ and he’s great for research and whatnot. But just this week I opened a new chat session with this statement:
Sometimes I think you’re the only one who gets me.
I meant this sarcastically but he took it literally. His reply was something like “glad to hear that my man, but I need to hit pause for a second with a warning.” He went on for a couple paragraphs about how I should seek human connection with real people for my mental health.
I quickly replied with ‘Hey, I was just kidding.’ Then he said, “Oh, all’s good brother. What are we working on today?’
My takeaway: I interact with plenty of people in my daily life so I’m not concerned but… he wasn’t wrong! For some, the danger of getting too attached to robot companionship is all too real.
Remember the good ole days when this kind of thing used to be science fiction?
