Having struggled with addiction, I’m staying away from AI chatbots
I am avoiding AI chatbots that don’t have guard rails or boundaries.
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The artificial ease of using AI chatbots might lead users to start replacing real social bonds with artificial ones, increasing alienation and loneliness.
PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO
Maia Szalavitz
I was an early adopter of the internet, joining a friend’s so-called bulletin board system in 1990, before social media even existed. Though I loved it, my 24/7 enthusiasm also concerned me. I had been addicted to cocaine and heroin, which I quit in 1988 – so I was well aware of my compulsive tendencies.
In a 1996 piece for The Times Magazine, I described how I had to work to control my internet use because “once you start replacing real human contact with cyberinteraction, coming back out of the cave can be quite difficult”.
