Sam Altman continues to wager shrewd enterprise decisions as OpenAI’s browser Atlas is launched shortly after their announcement to allow erotica content.
From starting as non-profit to moving to for-profit, to predicting AI will cure cancer, planning for AGI and beyond, and soon profiteering off of erotic content Sama continues to be ever so saaavvyy.
It’s an interesting ethical positioning. OpenAI (amongst other revenue avenues) could create the funds deliver on AGI and cure cancer by profiting off of corn?
Intentional and pathological by design (evil genius alert). Focus will be spotlighted on the virtue signaling goal of AGI / curing cancer while not spotlighting on the damaging effects of highly addictive generative erotica content and overall addictive misuse of ChatGPT and AI models in general.
As an AI optimist, I believe there is a window for us to spotlight these risks and prevent them. otherwise the misuse of AI will bring very real health concerns.
How does misuse of AI damage people?
1) It damages our brains. MIT released a study, Your Brain on ChatGPT. This study explores the neural and behavioral consequences of LLM-assisted essay writing.
Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. Over only FOUR MONTHS ! Now imagine the effect over years?
outsourcing thinking power to robots will result in less cognitively capable humans.
We would have a lower tolerance for the natural levels of friction that learning great things requires. If adult brains in four months using ChatGPT show decline in neural levels, imagine these effects over years? Imagine these effects on children who are learning to read? or learning math?
Why learn to read, when they can ask their AI agent on their phone to read the text and say it out loud to them? These children grow up to be humans who are fully reliant on AI. ~ ~ eternal customers ~ ~
2) It damages our mental health. The use of dopamine/cortisol inducing algorithms like Tiktok + Instagram are already correlated with a slew of health problems from depression, anxiety, eating disorders, poor lifestyle choices and hormone changes. Phone addiction anyone? 11 hours of screentime week in week out, year after year. Brainrotting quite literally. Addictive AI content won’t help. Mental health crises anyone?
3) It also damages hormones and connection.
for men - As we see AI enter into the world of erotic content, it would follow suit that the already damaging effects of corn (code-word so this article doesn’t get flagged) will accelerate.
Corn addiction is already correlated with highly addictive brain patterns in men.
TLDR the same affects of substance abuse on the brain are at play
Subjects with excessive viewing show impairments on executive functioning.
Prolonged exposure has been suggested to decrease neuroplasticity.
Disruption of the entire hormonal regulatory system.
AI would accelerate these effects as AI erotica bots can autonomously talk, engage, and live generate simulated personalized erotic content.
Why talk to a real woman when there’s a perfect live in girlfriend at home? Think Blade Runner.
AI will continue to play out patriarchal power dynamics at large scales. More addictive and engaging AI means more human disconnection and drastically affected hormones.
for women - the opportunity for AI to profit off of sexual disappointments is pronounced.
There are many pre-existing forces that have converged to create the disillusionment women feel to men including labor market changes, rising divorce rates and birth control.
The emotional reassurance of a loving and kind text from a boyfriend can be easily replicated by an AI bot. Not only easily replicated, but honestly beaten. LLMs are more verbose and emotionally expressive in their writing than the average Joey.
Slowly women’s tolerance for disappointment shrinks and they can outsource emotional reassurance to their AI boyfriend, and their sexual needs to toys, instead of real men.
Women and men could have a lower tolerance for the natural levels of friction that real human connection demands.
Unguarded? Probably women having less sex with men, less marriages and less children. Pretty surrreee that’s already started. Hey Vogue said having a boyfriend is embarrassing right?
Okay so how does this relate to cancer or pharma?
What are the biological effects of poor mental health, less sex hormones, less human connection and lower neural levels on men and women?? We are living in this experiment so let’s wait and see !
An EXTREMELY concerning trend that’s already been documented is that cancer rates in young adults has been rising in recent years. A global study found that cancer incidence in people aged 14 to 49 increased by approximately 79% between 1990 and 2019.
Cognitive decline, poor mental health and lifestyle factors like poor sleep, high stress, lack of exercise, low movement are also associated with increased cancer risk. All of these will be exacerbated by AI. Our brains show less neural activity in only 4 months using ChatGPT, what about over a lifetime?
cough cough phone addiction, tiktok brain rotting and doomscrolling AI erotica content will make things worse. much worse.
The solve?
The less glamorous and NEEDED solve is AI literacy. Integrating tech and AI into our lives in healthy and expansive ways is the silver lining that makes the risks worth pursuing.
AI paints a dazzlingggg future of possibility. I’m imagining self driving spaceships, disease cures, living until 150 years old, and the democratization of education. You can just do things has never been more true.
Tech companies should be leading the charge with efficacy and responsibility. Restraint and grace. Anthropic, OpenAI and others have already taken initiative in this area with long form content, but there’s more to do.
We already know that most are not sitting to read long form essays, so we need to produce educational material in digestible ways. Whether that’s short form content, memes, partnering with influencers, in person museum experiences with VR, real life events, there is more to be done and more to do. Let’s get creaaative ! Distribution is the only moat, and distributing AI safety and literacy cannot only be through long form content.
We have at our fingertips untethered potential. With great power comes great responsibility.
NEO Robot!!
see you at the next side quest (!)