AI is increasingly becoming the outlet for our emotions, and that concerns me.

AI is increasingly becoming the outlet for our emotions, and that concerns me.

      Chatbots are now learning to provide comfort

      I expected artificial intelligence to excel in calculations or data analysis compared to humans. However, I never anticipated it would excel in emotional support. Recent research conducted by the University of Manchester in collaboration with Durham University revealed that top AI chatbots can equal or even surpass humans in addressing common emotional issues. The researchers carried out five studies involving 1,233 participants and evaluated the responses from ChatGPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Gemini 1.5 Pro.

      Participants rated responses to situations like being overlooked for a promotion or returning to a messy shared living space, without knowing if the replies were from a human or an AI system.

      AI was especially adept at managing anger and fear.

      Responses generated by the chatbots were rated as more emotionally supportive in scenarios involving anger and fear, and they even assisted participants in expressing more positive emotions such as calmness and joy. Human and AI responses yielded similar results for situations related to sadness. Interestingly, simple validation did not account for this advantage; merely acknowledging someone's feelings as valid had little impact on its own.

      The strongest impact observed in the study was linked to responses that provided actionable support, such as breathing exercises, practical next steps, or structured ways to reassess a situation. AI systems tended to offer this level of detailed guidance more reliably than their human counterparts. The findings also indicate that individuals could enhance their support skills, as effective responses often require more than just a sympathetic comment.

      The support from a chatbot concludes with the message.

      The experiments concentrated on brief, written replies to everyday scenarios; thus, they did not explore therapy, other types of emergencies, or prolonged emotional distress. They also did not address the implications of depending on a chatbot over an extended period. The researchers made it a point to advise against viewing AI as a substitute for human support.

      Dr. Sarah Walker from Durham University emphasized this distinction effectively. A chatbot might suggest going for a walk, but a person can accompany you on that walk, providing presence and ongoing assistance beyond the conversation.

      Vikhyaat Vivek is a tech journalist and reviewer with seven years of experience in consumer hardware coverage.

      Alexa+ has just become significantly more useful, provided your devices are compatible.

      Your smart home is about to become much smarter.

      You may have asked Alexa to perform various trivial tasks over the years, but "determine which of my washer's 30 cycles actually signifies a cold wash" might not have been one of them. It turns out, Amazon has now developed a toolkit that makes this possible, and it's being rolled out across a surprisingly large list of brands today.

      How to set up selfie video sign-in for your Google account.

      Your face can now be used as a way to regain access to your Google account. Here's how to set it up.

      Losing access to a Google account isn’t typically a quick fix, but Google has been striving to simplify the process. Last year, the company introduced a feature called Recovery Contacts, allowing you to designate a trusted friend or family member to verify your identity if you get locked out. Now, Google has released a new option that enables you to use your face for logins instead of calling a friend. Similar to Recovery Contacts, the new selfie video authentication feature requires some setup before you can use your face to access your Google account. This process involves recording a reference video for Google to verify your identity when you attempt to log in this way. Here's how to establish selfie video sign-in for your Google account.

      Framework Desktop introduces Ryzen AI Max, supports up to 192GB of RAM, and features local AI in a mini PC.

      192GB of RAM in such a compact desktop? Framework confirms it.

      Framework has built a reputation for delivering products that other PC manufacturers won't even attempt, and its latest teaser maintains that trend. At AMD’s Advancing AI event, the company unveiled a new version of its Framework Desktop, specifically designed for running large AI models locally on your computer. If you’ve been looking for a way to run local AI applications, this might be the device to keep an eye on.

      So, what exactly is new with this release?

AI is increasingly becoming the outlet for our emotions, and that concerns me. AI is increasingly becoming the outlet for our emotions, and that concerns me. AI is increasingly becoming the outlet for our emotions, and that concerns me. AI is increasingly becoming the outlet for our emotions, and that concerns me. AI is increasingly becoming the outlet for our emotions, and that concerns me. AI is increasingly becoming the outlet for our emotions, and that concerns me. AI is increasingly becoming the outlet for our emotions, and that concerns me.

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AI is increasingly becoming the outlet for our emotions, and that concerns me.

A study revealed that top AI chatbots can surpass humans in alleviating anger and fear, prompting unsettling inquiries about who we are progressively relying on during challenging times.