Adam is still away, but we wanted to highlight a new technology story we thought you'd find interesting.
All couples argue. Bicker. Disagree. Usually, the couple might exchange some choice words, cool off, and come to see the other’s point of view, eventually hashing it out. Until very recently, that is.
AI has seeped into many aspects of life — art, writing, meal prep — so, naturally, it's found its way into romantic relationships. Beyond just helping someone craft an apology text to their spouse, chatbots are being used to mediate arguments.
The people I spoke to told me they turned to ChatGPT and Claude to help them move past disagreements, open up, and become better communicators. But are large language models actually equipped to help two people navigate the trials of life?
—Allie Volpe, correspondent
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The couples using ChatGPT as their therapist |
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Nick Sadler and his wife had different ideas of what a chill Saturday looked like. He considered the weekend a blank slate — no set plans, the family’s moment to reset and chill. She was under the impression that time was up for grabs and put a short hangout on their calendar, which Sadler saw as his wife not taking his schedule into account. To settle the argument, he opened up ChatGPT, specifically the group chat function, which allows more than one human to interact with the technology. Sadler prompted the chatbot to act as a neutral mediator and to instruct them on their next moves. Sadler tells Vox that ChatGPT acted as a trusted friend, or even a therapist, suggesting both of them consider different perspectives. It attempted to pinpoint where the conversation broke down (“Both of you then behaved logically according to your own understanding. That means this is not primarily a respect problem. It’s a classification problem.”) and offered guidelines for future scheduling (“A simple question can prevent most of these arguments: ‘Is this an idea, or are we locking this in?’”)
“It was like, ‘Well, next time just consider this’ and ‘maybe try saying this’ and ‘maybe try doing that,’” Sadler, a film producer, says. “We got some sort of advice to follow, but ultimately we’ve still got to do the work and we’ve still got to actually take the actions.”
Sadler, a 48-year-old self-proclaimed AI enthusiast, is no stranger to utilizing ChatGPT in his marriage. He’s used it to uncover the weaknesses in his arguments and to craft apology texts to his wife. “I put in purpose mistakes so she wouldn’t think I was just using ChatGPT,” he says.
Read more on Vox
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