Millions of people worldwide use the AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, on a daily basis. Now, research reports have revealed the negative impact of prolonged usage of ChatGPT on individuals.
MIT Media Lab’s study monitored ChatGPT users for four weeks. Separate studies conducted by MIT Media Lab and OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, discovered that people who spend more time on ChatGPT tend to feel lonelier.
OpenAI’s research analyzed data from over 40 million interactions on ChatGPT and also conducted surveys with users. MIT’s research found that communicating with ChatGPT via text or voice affects a person’s emotions.
According to the study, excessive use of ChatGPT increases feelings of loneliness. For example, users who rely on the chatbot start to feel lonely and become emotionally dependent on ChatGPT.
This effect is more common among those who interact with ChatGPT through text, whereas the impact is lesser in voice mode. Similarly, individuals who discuss personal topics with ChatGPT tend to feel lonely for a short period, while those who talk about general topics become more emotionally dependent on the chatbot.
OpenAI’s research revealed that emotional conversations with ChatGPT are still not very common. The study indicated that only a limited number of people prefer discussing emotional experiences with ChatGPT, so loneliness is not yet a widespread issue.
Both research reports have certain limitations, as they analyzed users over a short period, and MIT’s study did not compare data with a control group. However, the findings do suggest that conversations with AI chatbots have psychological effects on users.
