Her husband wanted to use ChatGPT to create sustainable housing. Then it took over his life.

[NJCher]

2. I'm curious

Does anyone else who read this article think that there must have been something wrong before he started engaging so heavily with these chatbots? I get the point of the article, which is that that in the latest iterations, the chatbots don't give any pushback.

Later in the article, it points out the value of human interaction, which invariably includes pushback. Just look at us at DU, for example. We are all in basic agreement on broad principles, such as that republicans are lying, cheating scum, but you will still get a wide range of pushback here. Here's the point I'm talking about:

snip

He adds that, unlike human conversations, which feature pushback and different perspectives tugging at each other, a user doesn’t receive any pushback during their conversations with chatbots: “The design of the product is pushing you away from reality. It’s pushing you away from other people,” he said. “The friction with other people is what keeps us grounded.”

snip

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Also, would add that it's very sad because the goal was worthwhile and needed addressing. It sounds like they had some fairly workable ideas. Now that's left to his wife to reorganize.