If there was ever evidence that people form deep emotional addictions to ChatGPT, OpenAI’s new Trusted Contact feature is probably it.
Speaking at Sequoia Capital’s AI Ascent event last May, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said young people were using ChatGPT as an operating system for life — not just for productivity, but for big personal decisions.
“I mean, those things, I think, are all cool and impressive,” Altman said. “And there’s another thing where they don’t really make life decisions without asking ChatGPT what to do.”
The feature is still rolling out, so Trusted Contact isn’t available to everyone yet, but to find it, click or tap your profile name in ChatGPT, then look in Settings. You can nominate a trusted adult contact who must accept the role before the feature becomes active.
If ChatGPT’s automated systems detect conversations that may indicate a serious risk of self-harm, the user is warned that their trusted contact may be notified and encouraged to contact themselves first.
A specially trained human assessment team then assesses the situation before sending an alert. If reviewers believe there is a genuine security issue, the trusted contact receives a notification via email, text or in-app alert prompting them to check in.
OpenAI says the alerts do not include chat transcripts or detailed conversation history to protect users’ privacy, and you can remove or change your trusted contact at any time.
Reassuring or disturbing?
OpenAI says Trusted Contact was developed with input from mental health experts, suicide prevention specialists and a global network of more than 260 doctors in 60 countries. Coupled with all the parental controls that OpenAI already has in place and the security railings already in place, Trusted Contact is another sign that the company recognizes that ChatGPT is something that can affect users emotionally, not just technologically.
The recent product announcements from OpenAI have really played down the use of ChatGPT as an assertive and emphasized more of ChatGPT’s productivity focus, especially regarding the Codex tool for creating code. But at the same time, more and more security features are being added aimed at the emotional well-being of ChatGPT users.
The idea that we are now being monitored by ChatGPT is also worrying for some. When my colleague Becca Caddy recently interviewed Amy Sutton of Freedom Counseling for a study on AI monitoring tools in the workplace, she noted that knowing you’re being monitored by your AI, especially in the workplace, could actually exacerbate the problem it’s trying to solve. Sutton commented: “With mental health stigmas still rife, AI observation is likely to lead to greater efforts to hide evidence of struggles. This could create a dangerous spiral where the greater our efforts to hide low mood or anxiety, the worse it gets.”
Whether Trusted Contact feels reassuring or unsettling probably depends on how you already view AI and ChatGPT. But the feature is another example of how AI companies are recognizing that their products are not just tools for productivity and information, but as systems that people increasingly rely on emotionally in some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
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