Chatbots could spark the next big mental health crisis

A chart illustrates that the longer people spend with ChatGPT, the likelier they are to report feelings of loneliness and other mental health risks. (MIT/OpenAI) New research from OpenAI shows that heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization. Will AI companies learn from social networks' mistakes? This is a column about AI. My boyfriend works at Anthropic, and I also co-host a podcast at the New York Times, which is suing OpenAI and Microsoft over allegations of copyright infringement. See my full ethics disclosure here . I. Few questions have generated as much discussion, and as few generally accepted conclusions, as how social networks like Instagram and TikTok affect our collective well-being. In 2023, the US Surgeon General issued an advisory which found that social networks can negatively affect the mental health of young people . Other studies have found that the introduction of social networks does not have any measurable effect on the populat ... Read full article.