Initially, it was just to write a few professional emails. Then, to understand the difficult administrative formalities to settle in Italy. ChatGPT, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) conversational robot developed at the end of 2022 by the American company OpenAI, quickly solved the problem of Joanie, 24 years old. “He helped me make an appointment online with the town hall to start a residency procedure,” explains the twenty-something from Rome. Then, gradually, the chatbot also invited itself full-time into his kitchen, to become his food guide. “He gives me recommendations for eating better and explains the nutritional values of each food,” summarizes the native of Strasbourg.
“It’s my anti-mental load weapon”
She is not the only one to leave the composition of her plate in the hands of this artificial intelligence. On TikTok, a thirty-year-old mother says that ChatGPT, which reached 300 million weekly Internet users in December, writes her menus for the whole family and the shopping lists that go with them for the entire week. “It’s my anti-mental load weapon. I couldn’t do without it anymore,” notes the user.
For her part, Camille made the conversational agent her sports coach. To receive responses consistent with their request, users write prompts to ChatGPT, i.e. instructions. “I gave him all my information, my height, my weight, what zones I wanted to work on, my objectives and from there he put together a sports program for me,” says the woman who is, among other things, an influencer. “The tool is relatively precise when you know how to use it and what details to give it,” explains the thirty-year-old. “It’s become quite important. It’s a bit like a personal assistant. »
Personal data at stake
Writing a birthday message, finding gift ideas, calculating the cost of a car trip… “Everything goes,” says Adèle, a doctoral student. “It’s a real time saver for the organization. »
For Amélie Cordier, doctor in artificial intelligence, “using AI for financial management or the optimization of a sports training program is a very good idea”. But not with just any one. “ChatGPT is a tool that makes relatively abusive use of the data it collects. The more personal data you provide, the more vulnerable you make yourself in terms of security,” underlines the founder and director of the company Graine d’IA. Before adding that the general public would benefit from using European alternatives and specialized AIs, and not general ones like the American model of ChatGPT.
“Calm my anxiety attacks”
Several users go further in using the tool, and praise the merits of the chatbot as a psychologist on social networks. “It will never replace human interaction, but it is a good way to calm my anxiety attacks which are unpredictable. A psychologist cannot be at my disposal 24 hours a day,” says Louise, a student, who confides her fears and her romantic dilemmas to the chatbot. “The tool is calibrated to give an illusion of empathy and support. But with my job, I learn to hear what the patient does not say, and that is not possible for an AI,” warns Michael Stora, psychologist and psychoanalyst.
“ChatGPT can ask questions, it is more of a form of personal development coaching. But AI cannot heal,” adds the co-founder of the Observatory of Digital Worlds in the Human Sciences. Before adding: “This type of service like ChatGPT must really remain a sort of administrative GPS. In general, we don’t really realize it yet, but little by little there will be phenomena of dependence on AI. »
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