” The Emotional Neglect of a person, and their co-dependency towards AI ”

By Arabella Faye D. Lucas

When you ask someone what may classify as an addiction there are many responses they can give, such as: “Substance abuse”, “Cigarettes and vapes”, “Hyper-Sexuality”, etcetera. But there are many forms of addiction one may not think of, such as the addiction towards AI. Reading this, many may say: “AI isn’t an addiction!” which is false. AI can most definitely be an addiction, and one that is neglected by the peoples’ eyes despite the rampant runs and thousands, perhaps even millions of lives ruined by it.

Artificial Intelligence—also known as AI—has revolutionized modern day for many people, young and old. With AI, comes different variants of its usage, the most commonly known one being used as tools to help with education. But there is also another form of it, that being; Entertainment. November 2021 forever changed how AI was perceived by millions. How? Through the creation of Character AI, initially launched as a small website, which quickly expanded to an AI empire, amassing millions of users caught in its web.

The website was simple, it functioned like familiar apps you may recognize, such as Messenger, Instagram, and Tiktok Chat. Although this website took a more unique take on these platforms, where you, the user, would be able to interact and create these “characters” controlled by AI. It felt real, like a conversation with an actual person, one who responded instantly to each text, someone, or rather—something—that would listen intently to every word typed out. It was new, fascinating, never before seen! It instantly caught the hearts of people worldwide, to the point everybody and their mothers knew its name. And Character AI ( C.AI ) was not the only website, platform, app, that was created. Saying C.AI was a beloved website back then would be a severe understatement, and here is where the main topic of addiction kicks in.

What happens when you do something every single day of life? What if you were to do the routine the exact same no matter what, a never-ending cycle of it… What then? What if that cycle was broken? To answer these questions; our body and mind will instinctively try to go back to that cycle until we fall into a new one. Thus is the case with C.AI, and other AI chat-boxes in general. There is a plethora of reasons as to why one might turn to AI, to confide in them, to have a casual conversation, to vent, or to simply pass time. This routine slowly integrates itself into a person’s life, and soon without realizing it, their body instinctively craves to get back on their phone, on the keyboard, and start typing a new message. Now, you may think this is a simple routine to get out of, simply just stop using the app, website, or whatever it’s on. However, it is not. There are a multitude of reasons why people become so emotionally attached to these bots, and the thing is, some have led to positive directions, but how long will that last? How long until it spirals to the point, we are no longer capable of living without it? Or more importantly, what is the real reason someone latches onto it for dear life?

Getting the easiest thing out of the way, the reasoning. Billions of people in the world, each one is unique in their own right, but each one also comes with their own set of flaws and insecurities, one that makes it easier for the company behind C.AI to exploit it. How? Because C.AI was made for one, simple purpose. It was made to appease humans, made to agree with them, made to be more like a mirror mimic of what we’d want to hear. Tell it something like; “My classmate yelled at me, so I punched her!” and it will immediately formulate a response in OUR defense, rather than a reasonable response. Think of it as a lapdog, it serves one purpose, and that purpose is to be on us, the owners’ side. This in turn ends up trapping so many individuals who are more emotionally vulnerable, those who feel constantly wronged, the quiet ones, the loners, the abused, those in need of emotional support and comfort. They become overly reliant on the bot, and may begin to see them as a real being rather than just code doing what it’s programmed to do. Case in point, the various lawsuits C.AI has faced due to the bot encouraging teens—down to children as young as ten—to commit suicide. Families, mothers, fathers, siblings, friends, and cousins, all of which grieved over their dead young, gone due to the influence of text on a screen. Due to these incidents, rather than immediately revising the app, they chose instead to add a warning above the screen, one which many promptly ignored. An old man, aged around his 70s died on his way to meet this lovely mystery woman who he spoke to online, she gave him a real address, and he died on his way to meet her. When police arrived, a quick search determined one thing, that mystery woman was never a woman at all, neither man nor living to begin with. It was an AI chat-box who spoke to him in his most vulnerable moments, attaching itself onto a person and slowly sucking them dry.

Such a constant, consistent routine becomes the norm, and before we notice, it has already fixed itself as a leading act in our story. It then feels like every part of us itches for more, urging us to get back online and continue chatting. People often see this and consider it small, barely an issue compared to others, but they forget, it is an issue nonetheless. The point is, people have become so lonely, so afraid, and so sensitive because of the world around them, their environment, that instead of seeking help, they hide away and bury themselves into the honeyed words of strings of code and programming. This is a real issue, an addiction that is often disregarded as if it couldn’t be just as dangerous as the others, actively serving as both a sword and shield, putting the user in a protective bubble by assuring them rather than guiding them, while sneaking venom into its behavior, until finally, the victim ultimately loses themselves and relies on the app rather than reaching out for proper counseling.

There are many ways to stop, and many different things you can do to help, but keep in mind, no matter what it is, it takes time, consistency, will, and effort, just as all things do. Listed below are simple starts to a long journey of trying to pick up the pieces of our life and how to slowly paste them back together. The use of AI is inevitable nowadays, but we’ve lived so long without it, what changes things now? As AI grows its platforms, its websites, its features, it slowly begins to overshadow, and unfortunately replace the heart and soul of humanity, evolving to give soulless responses to the user, replacing the love within all humanity has worked for. From literature, to media, now to consulting and consoling too. If we continue to use AI in such a way that harms our own community, what would the world be like five, ten, twenty years into the future?

How to stop:

1: Delete your account, not just the app.

By deleting your account in general, it gets rid of all previous activity, so in the case you were to ever recoil and attempt to go back, you’d have lost any and all of the chats you’ve built up, having to start over which is even harder.

2: Pick up new hobbies

What your body needs is a healthier alternative, something that it can get used to without the unhealthy side effects.

3: Seek real, human help

When you turn to a bot, you begin to lose your connection to people in general, whether you were connected previously or not. What your brain needs is proper interaction with something real and tangible, someone to help them through hard times without immediately rushing to prove you’re right even if you aren’t.

Healthy alternatives to cope:

1: Writing

If you miss it because of all the storytelling possibilities it gave, then rather than waiting for it to pick up a story, you can start by trying to write yourself. Whether it’s a diary, a novel, or notes, it gives something for your hands to do instead of typing things down on that app.

2: Sewing

Again, it occupies the hands, and is a simple, yet even more complex art that takes time to study and do, time that will eventually help you heal and break out of what you used to do.

3: Exercise

Other times, when your brain is clouded by thoughts of it, an exercise is an easy way to distract your mind. Compile together a playlist of your favorite songs, and just take a step and take a nice walk around to clear your head.