AI and mental health struggles

I once watched a video about someone asking an AI chatbot about mental (health) struggles.
It was quite astonishing to me what the bot came up itself.

Our mental capability is what distinguishes us from animals. My art teacher once said, because we use our brain so much and in different ways (e.g. creativity, logical reasoning, languages…etc) we might have here and there people that have very extreme forms of how the brain works.

“It is the price we pay for brilliance” – an interesting perspective of my art teacher. She was very into psychology as well 😉

Therefore, I asked ChatGPT a similar question:

What are AI caused mental health struggles in humans?

ChatGPT and Bard came up with various mental health struggles:


1. **Job Displacement Anxiety**: As AI and automation continue to replace certain jobs, individuals who lose their jobs may experience anxiety, depression, and stress related to financial insecurity and the uncertainty of finding new employment.

This is sth indeed I hear here and there, also from students. Due to the economic downturn, it seems like competition in the job market becomes fiercer. Adding an AI that could cut costs significantly and doing the easier repetitive tasks, means oneself has to be more skilled or sophisticated. Therefore, it sth my peers and I ponder about the future.


2. **Social Isolation**: Increased reliance on AI-driven technologies for communication and entertainment, such as social media and virtual reality, can contribute to social isolation and loneliness. These feelings of isolation can lead to mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

The issue of isolation, came up in times like Corona. People spending a lot of time on Netflix, Instagram, TikTok etc – lost real connection with people around them. Of course, communicating with people is being enabled through applications, but on the other side the connections are weaker and not that deep (or we need to learn how to make meaningful connections using these applications). When it comes to generative AI, these bots could become for some people the comfort they don’t find, as AI will give them what they want to hear. Distancing them from real people, and fleeing into the digital space.


3. **Information Overload**: AI algorithms curate and deliver vast amounts of information to users, which can lead to information overload. Trying to keep up with this constant flow of data can cause stress, impacting mental well-being.

With many texts, images and videos nowadays – it became increasingly difficult to distinguish what is real and what is fake. In addition, more and more people have access to the internet, posting their ideas and opinions – spreading those sometimes with AI generated texts that save them time and create mass posts.
Information flows from everywhere and could cause stress.



4. **Depersonalization**: Interactions with AI-driven customer service chatbots and automated systems can lead to feelings of depersonalization and frustration, especially when individuals prefer human interactions. This can negatively impact emotional well-being.

Probably, a familiar issue if one can not solve an issue with a chatbot and tries to get to a real human on the other side. The chatbot just repeats the same questions and if not given the option to talk to a human, one simply gives up and tries calling or via email.



In summary, AI brings a lot of benefits though needs quite a lot of training on how to handle people more naturally and people need to learn where the boundaries are with AI.