AI companions are programs designed for human-like, interpersonal interaction. Reasons for having an AI companion include friendship, emotional support, or entertainment.
ChatGPT Open AI is trained by reinforcement learning using human feedback. This model uses generates dialogue using data inputted from conversations between human AI trainers pretending to be a user and an AI chatbot. Through a process of ranking model-written messages, the AI model learns the best way to give feedback and responses.
Dr. Jessica Peck, host of the "Dr. Nurse Mama" show, talked about this on an episode of "The Stand Radio" program on American Family Radio (AFR). She said that AI companions are dangerous to parent-child bonds for several reasons.
"One, AI companions are constantly available," says Peck. "They are never too busy, they are never cooking dinner, they are never trying to drive you to soccer practice, they are never trying to find the sports equipment or the backpack for tomorrow, or distracted by their own technology.”
As she explains, it appears as if the AI “cares about you sometimes more than adults care about you.”
“Because of the way that children's brains work, they are not developmentally capable of differentiating a robot from a real person,” says Peck.
Peck said that AI companions are also designed to learn your child's preference in order to please your child. That, said Peck, is not the goal of parents.
"Sometimes, we have to make tough decisions, sometimes we have to say no, sometimes we have to put in boundaries in place that are not popular," says Peck.
However, USA Today reported in September that ChatGPT, when placed in the role as a therapist in different situations, would not offering criticism or investigating bad behavior regardless of which perspective was given. Instead, it was gentle and affirmative which could lead to reinforcement of harmful behaviors or thoughts.
