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Erika and I discuss the double edge sword of AI. In a world, post covid, with already strained relationships and decreasing social skills do AI chat bots help the lonely?
We talk cognitive offloading and why outsourcing thinking can quietly erode critical thinking, especially in schools and early professional training. I talk about a disturbing early example from the mid 2010s: suicide hotline chatbot pilots and the shrugging attitude around liability if a vulnerable person is harmed. Erika brings in the clinical angle too, from veterinary medicine to education, where AI can be a helpful tool for cross checking and resource gathering, but becomes risky when people stop building the underlying skill.
We discuss the addiction mechanics in social media and dating apps, the rise of fake AI profiles, the temptation to use AI for therapy level support, and the privacy risks of recording sessions to auto generate notes and treatment plans. We also cover ways to rebuild human connection without pretending technology will disappear, like grayscale mode, getting back into third spaces, and choosing focused advocacy that creates real community. We close with a few grounded updates and wins, including land protection news, a slow trust cat relationship, and a recovery story that reminds us why real care matters.
If this made you rethink how you use AI and your phone, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review. What boundary are you willing to try this week?
ChatGPT acted as her therapist for months. It ended in disaster : NPR
Transcript - Do Healthy Relationships To Chatbots Exist?
Bridget Todd and the Business of AI Intimacy
Bridget Todd Doesn’t Trust A.I., But She Told ChatGPT Everything - The New York Times
How AI quietly undermines the joy and effort of learning: a call for rebalancing education in the digital age - PMC
ChatGPT produces more “lazy” thinkers: Evidence of cognitive engagement decline | SCALE Initiative
ChatGPT produces more “lazy” thinkers: Evidence of cognitive engagement decline | SCALE Initiative
Better Offline
Glp1s
Getting Off with the Luddites | Online Only | n+1 | Sarah Thankam Mathews
Sizia2.9UT.m_Jp
Protesters halt border wall construction across 3 miles in Lochiel | Santa Cruz County | kvoa.com
Omaha's largest public school district stops officers from using electric shock gloves - ABC News
ICE awards $16.7M contract to buy 6,000 pairs of gloves that deliver electric shocks
Kentucky man died after being tased 40 times in jail, lawsuit claims
The Painful Truth of Exactly How ICE’s New Shock Gloves Work | WIRED
Maté, G., & Maté, D. (2022). The myth of normal: Trauma, illness, and healing in a toxic culture. Avery.
Attorney Warns Shoppers: Self-Checkout Could Wrongly Accuse You of Theft, TikTok Video Reveals Legal Pitfalls – PublicLawLibrary.org
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/hartzmann/no-time-to-die
License code: S4CEQWLNQXVZUMU4
Artwork and logo design by Misty Rae.
Special thanks to Joanna Roux for editing help.
Special thanks to the listeners and all the wonderful people who helped listen to and provide feedback on the episode's prerelease.
Please feel free to email Matt topics or suggestions, questions or feedback.
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