“Hey ChatGPT, write a text to let a girl know I want to keep the relationship casual.”
A student at Yale used ChatGPT to draft a six paragraph text to downgrade from dating to situationship. The student said he was afraid he wouldn’t craft an appropriate “rejection message” given his lack of experience.
To most people, this behavior can seem emotionally immature and a red flag, but the girl who received the message wasn’t shocked by the robotic communication and said that many of her friends regularly use AI as a crutch in social situations.
This may be one of the most harmful ways to use AI yet.
I can’t help but wonder: how will future generations learn to communicate with each other if an algorithm has to do it for them?
Social offloading
Social offloading refers to using external tools in social settings to reduce or complete tasks without the use of your own cognitive abilities or emotional labor.
While human-to-human social offloading involves using the social skills of others to navigate a situation, social offloading using AI relies on technology to craft messages and interpret social cues.
Within the past year or two, I have witnessed many of my peers become almost completely socially inept without AI. High school students are habitually using AI to navigate normal human interactions such as resolving arguments, communicating feelings and instigating or terminating romantic relationships.
While AI can be used to solve complex logical problems, it uses overly-polished language that often comes off as disingenuous or emotionless. This can make what you’re trying to say confusing or hollow.
When it comes to natural language and human interaction, AI doesn’t process as well as people do. At conversational levels, AI cannot comprehend different tones or emotional context crucial to functional interactions.
The junior at Yale said his main intent using ChatGPT was to make sure his thoughts and feelings sounded clear to his blind date; however, she ended up even more confused, saying she couldn’t tell if he wanted to keep seeing her or not.
When you need to have a serious conversation with someone and you’re afraid you won’t have the words to convey what you need to say properly, chances are if you put a little bit of thought and time into your message you’ll come up with something much more comprehensible than whatever ChatGPT is going to spit out at you.
What are the consequences?
Using AI excessively could hinder the development of essential skills like reading social intent or inferring others’ emotions. This is especially harmful to young people who are navigating interpersonal relationships. If you’re resorting to AI to communicate, it’ll be harder for you to improve.
70% of Gen Z uses AI. While older generations use AI to boost productivity, Gen Z is more inclined to use it as a shortcut to avoid having to think for themselves.
While a dump text generated by AI might not seem like a big deal, it demonstrates a lack of care and effort and devalues the person on the other end of the interaction. If you need to use AI to articulate how you feel, then you close yourself off to your own humanity and emotional growth.
Gen Z, put your phone down and do better.
