Yeah these chatbots have been a weird and illuminating experiment in some ways. Obviously, they're a grift, and it's very sinister that a select few bajillionaires control them and shape how work is done, how language is evolving, and how people think because of that, but it has also shown that we are just absolutely as a species not ready to handle this sort of thing.

A little pretend man in a box who fully 100% agrees with everything you say? It's like crack to a lot of people, and it seems like it's made them putty in the hands of the Evil Dorks (Altman etc.).

There are probably numerous factors pushing people to lean on these feel-good robots for socialisation, including the unfortunate reality that life just isn't easy, but it's highlighted that people are too easy to manipulate with a little Wormtongue in their browser.

Very insidious stuff.