Dr. Alison Darcy

So we're using sort of machine learning and natural language processing to understand what people are saying in key areas.

But it's a simulation of a conversation.

So it's very on the rails.

Now, where we've used large language models, it has been to, you know, tap into their power to better understand what the person is saying.

But fundamentally, it's just not it's not trained on the Internet.

it sort of forces people into a direct consumer construct, which then has the danger of forcing innovators into this place where they're now just trying to hijack attention and build for addiction and not actual wellbeing, right?

So I think that the big frustration is not the limitation of the tech per se, it's trying to find the construct where it can live and be ethical still and be built around an objective function of human wellbeing.

What we're talking about, I think, is making it easier to disclose, to share something and have practice with sharing that thing.

That's what we've noticed from Wobot is like, you're right, people are going to Wobot with things they may never have shared with another person, but it makes them more likely to then go on and share it with somebody else.

Like it's a practice of externalization.

Loads of people say to me, but when I'm a therapist, you know, I'm reading the nonverbal communication in the room.

And I say, well, you're doing that because you're human.

And that, you know, humans are not as, we know this, aren't as able to disclose to another human as they are to an AI.

And so, you know, it's actually a very different dynamic.

And the AI dynamic doesn't necessarily need to read nonverbal communication.

I would say with a massive asterisk, and the asterisk is I don't know how an AI would fare when it's not looking at the non-verbal communication.

Yeah, so theoretically it might be useful, but I would say a behavioral family therapy, as I was trained to do it, that's a bit better of a fit because the therapist role there is as expert therapy.

But is the important thing for you to have that insight or is it for your brother to be able to have the insight and share that with you?

Yeah, this is a real topical issue.

Because while some of these AIs right now used for this purpose wouldn't necessarily be covered by the same law as a