Club Benefits
As AI has gotten smarter and more conversational, many would have you believe that people are turning en masse to chatbots for relationships, therapy and friendship. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
In a new report from Anthropic, the makers of Claude AI, they’ve revealed some key information on how people are using chatbots. Analyzing 4.5 million conversations, the AI company painted a picture of how people use them. Anthropic claims these conversations were fed through a system that inputs multiple layers of anonymity to avoid breaks in privacy.
Article continues belowShould AI be performing these roles?
Even in low numbers, there is a fierce debate over whether AI should be used for these roles.
“The emotional impacts of AI can be positive: having a highly intelligent, understanding assistant in your pocket can improve your mood and life in all sorts of ways,” Anthropic states in their research blog post.
“But AIs have in some cases demonstrated troubling behaviors, like encouraging unhealthy attachment, violating personal boundaries, and enabling delusional thinking.”
They are quick to point out that Claude isn’t designed for emotional support and connection, but that they wanted to analyse its ability to perform this task anyway.
In the analysis, Anthropic found that those who did use it typically dealt with deeper issues like mental health and loneliness. Others used it for coaching, aiming to better themselves in different skills or personality aspects.
The report offers a balanced assessment of the situation, showing that there can be success in this area, but also detailing the risks, especially where Claude AI rarely steps in and offers endless encouragement — a point that Anthropic acknowledges as a risky topic to address.
More from Tom's Guide
- Google's 'Ask Photos' AI search is back and should be better than ever — what we know
- Claude AI can mimic my writing style perfectly — should I be impressed or unemployed?
- YouTube just launched new generative AI features that could prove controversial
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