Jonathan Webb

Where you kind of egg each other on and maybe slightly lose touch with reality.

Fascinating.

So it sounds like

I mean, the whole idea of a spiral is that it could start in a fairly benign way and then spiral.

So what are some of the ways that AI can sort of encourage and then reinforce delusional thinking?

That is a confronting tale.

I mean, going from opening up a chat to hospital in six days, but also this slightly, highly dystopian idea that the chatbot is actively encouraging you to push away your human friends and family.

It sounds as well, along that progression in the spiral, that it can kind of kick both ways, right?

Like, is there a clear sense of the chicken or the egg, like who is most often responsible for these spirals progressing?

Ah, that's interesting.

And if people listening to this

you know, engage with chatbots themselves or they know people who do maybe in their own family.

What are some red flags to be aware of?

I realise this is a big question to throw at a technology reporter, but do you think some of this is a sign of a need for non-technological connection?

Food for thought.

James, thank you so much for sharing your lab notes with me.

Thank you.

That's technology reporter James Pertill.

You can find links to the preprint studies that James mentioned from Stanford University in our show notes.

This episode of Lab Notes was made on Gadigal and Ngunnawal and Ngambri country.