Millions use AI instead of going to therapy –

Character.ai is just like ChatGPT, except that with this technology you don’t interact with an anonymous bot, but you can talk to your favorite people, both fictional and non-fictional. Harry Potter, Super Mario, Beyoncé and more are available on the site.

But one bot is used more than all the others, and that is the character Psychologist. Apparently, by talking to this bot you can seek answers to all of life’s problems. According to the BBC, a total of 78 million messages have been shared with Psychologist.

“It was never my intention that it would become popular, it was never my intention that other people would seek it out or use it as a tool.” says Sam Zaia, the man behind Psychologist. “Then I started getting a lot of messages from people saying they were really positively affected by it and using it as a source of comfort.”

Zaia created the bot to have someone or something to talk to when his friends were busy. I’m not entirely sure if it’s a good thing that this exists, or if it’s an incredibly sad thing, given what it means for the broader society and the mental state we all find ourselves in.

What do you think?