[kaffekaka]

Are you really asking in good faith? It seems obvious to me that a tool such as ChatGPT can and will influence peoples behavior. We are only too keen on anthropomorphizing things around us, of course many or most people will interact with LLMs as of they were living beings.

This effect of LLMs on humans should be obvious, regardless of how much an individual technically knows that yes, it is only a text generating machine.

[kuschku]

> Are you really asking in good faith?

I am — I grew up being bullied, and my therapists taught me that I shouldn't even let humans affect me in this way and instead should let it slide and learn to ignore it, or even channel my emotions into defiance.

Which is why I'm genuinely curious (and a bit bewildered) how people who haven't taken that path are going through life.

[braebo]

We are all influenced by the external world whether we like it or not. The butterfly effect is an extreme example, but a direct interaction with anything, especially a talking rock, will influence us. Our outputs are a function of our inputs.

That said, being aware of the inputs and their effects on us, and consciously asserting influence over the inputs from within our function body, is incredibly valuable. It touches on mindfulness practices, promoting self awareness and strengthening our independence. While we can’t just flip a switch to be sociopaths fundamentally unaffected by others, we can still practice self awareness, stoicism, and strengthen our resolve as your therapist seems to be advocating for.

For those lacking the kind of awareness promoted by these flavors of mindfulness, the hypnotic effects of the storm are much more enveloping, for better or (more often) worse.