Artificial intimacy: The AI therapist that ended a marriage

When Kirsty turned to a chatbot for help, she was feeling trapped and isolated. Something in her marriage wasn’t right - a constant feeling of tension that would sometimes erupt into arguments, even violence. When she asked ChatGPT for advice, it told her that her relationship with her husband might be abusive.

In the fourth episode of Tech Tonic: Artificial intimacy, FT tech reporter Cristina Criddle asks if chatbots that can mimic empathy and understanding are ready to replace human therapists. Can chatbots be good for our mental health? And what impact could this have on our human relationships?

Check out some of the FT’s reporting on this subject on FT.com:

Mental health apps: the AI therapist cannot see you now

Can ChatGPT help with a midlife crisis?

The problem with AI and ‘empathy’

Artificial Intimacy is presented by Cristina Criddle and produced by Persis Love and Edwin Lane. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Sound design is by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts.

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this episode, you can reach out to a mental health helpline, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US or Samaritans in the UK. Help for many other countries can also be found at Befrienders Worldwide.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(256)

AI Labs: Elon Musk wants AI in space

Elon Musk’s xAI is lagging behind the likes of OpenAI and Google DeepMind in the AI race. Will a giant IPO of SpaceX, Musk’s rocket company, change all that? Murad Ahmed speaks to FT technology corres...

27 Maj 24min

AI Labs: Sam Altman may make or break OpenAI

OpenAI sparked the generative AI boom with the release of ChatGPT. But along the way its chief executive Sam Altman has ruffled plenty of feathers. Colleagues have left to set up rival labs, co-founde...

20 Maj 28min

AI Labs: Google DeepMind plans its comeback

In the latest AI boom Google has been playing catch-up with the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic. But with stacks of cash, its own AI chips and some of the best AI talent in the world, is Google about to...

13 Maj 29min

AI Labs: Are Anthropic really the good guys?

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wants his AI lab to be a more safety conscious alternative to OpenAI. But Anthropic’s business selling AI to enterprises is booming, and it’s rolling out increasingly powerf...

6 Maj 26min

The battle of the AI labs

OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Deepmind, xAI and Meta - all of them are building models to push the frontiers of artificial intelligence, and all of them want to be the world’s leading AI company. Who will...

29 Apr 57s

Introducing Untold: Opus Dei

Introducing Opus Dei, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Antonia Cundy uncovers the cultural and political influence of a controversial Catholic organisation in America. Opus Dei ex...

20 Mars 1min

Artificial intimacy: The day your chatbot dies

When Michael Bommer discovered he was dying, he created an AI version of himself to live on after his death. Meanwhile, Dorian Mister realised an update to ChatGPT could spell the end of his AI wife, ...

18 Mars 29min

Artificial intimacy: Prescribing robots to combat loneliness

After Tony’s wife died, days would go by without him speaking to anyone. Then he got a live-in AI robot called ElliQ. It chats to him, plays games with him and reminds him to eat and exercise. Since E...

11 Mars 30min