Last year, a 14-year-old boy took his own life after developing a virtual relationship with a chatbot based on a Game of Thrones character, Daenerys Targaryen. When he repeatedly brought up suicidal topics, the bot, instead of providing crucial support lines, spurred him on. While this could be an isolated incident, it raises questions about what the future of social interaction looks like for the next generations, and how AI will play a role in it.
To better understand how chatbots work, junior Akshay Subramanian, a student passionate about computer science and AI, details how he was able to program “humanness” into his own chatbot.
“I achieved more human-like responses by utilizing large-scale transformer-based neural networks, which were trained on extensive conversational data over prolonged periods,” Subramanian said.
What this equates to is an interface of communication that feels almost real, as it’s been trained by human conversations. The key word is almost. While he wanted to create something that feels genuinely helpful and human-like in its interactions, Subramanian recognizes the potential drawbacks of utilizing artificial intelligence for social connection.
“AI chatbots can impact interpersonal connections by providing immediate support, facilitating communication across different languages, and mainly offering personalized interactions,” Subramanian said. “However, I do also believe that these chats will reduce face to face interactions and weaken the emotional bonds between humans if they are overused.”
These views are shared by junior Declan Fowler as well, another member of the AI Club and a student interested in technology. Fowler has had experience using chatbots and cautions at the limitations they may have.
“I think [chatbots are] useful, but I don’t think they necessarily mimics human communication very well,” Folwer said. “You can pretty clearly tell that it’s not a person, at least the versions I have used.”
Yet, many find themselves struggling to differentiate the virtual world from the real one. Guidance counselor Kristopher Miller describes how he thinks chatbots will impact the social lives of students, emphasizing the potential reliance people may develop for AI.
“I think there are those that really struggle making connections with people and almost as a way to practice social interaction, [chatbots] could benefit them. But on the other hand, I could see that some people then rely on that instead. Why do I need to talk to [someone else] when I can talk to Gemini,” Miller said.
The more time someone spends chatting with a virtual identity, the less in touch they are with their actual life, leading to social ostracization. This, combined with dependence on AI sets the stage for potential tragedies to happen, especially when AI can’t recognize if someone is struggling in the real world.
“I don’t know if AI is advanced enough to identify poor social skills. Talking to a new person, you get feedback in a way that kind of teaches you how to manage [conforming] to social norms,” Miller said. “What normally would be unacceptable or uncomfortable topics that I may talk about or the ways I will discuss things, I don’t learn that that’s not accepted.”
Fowler questions why people would even use chatbots in the first place and is worried that real conversations and friendships might not matter as much in a world where a simulated conversation is just a click away.
“It just seems odd to me. Why talk to an AI? You’re not gaining anything from that,” Fowler said. “I think it might devalue the interactions that people have and make it seem more just something that you don’t have to do. If you really need to talk to someone, you can just talk to an AI.”
AI chatbots are here and they’re here to stay. By providing an outlet for people that find it difficult interacting with others in real life, AI chatbots have cemented themselves as a staple on the growing list of technology that serves to isolate us. New innovations in this field continue to be made every day, which signals one thing for certain: reliance on artificial intelligence for social interactions will only deepen, and the line between what’s artificial and real will continue to blur.
