this post was submitted on 19 May 2025
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A Boring Dystopia
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There are ways that LLMs can be used to better one's life (apparently in some software dev circles these can be and are used to make workflow more efficient) and this can also be one of them, because the part that sucks most about therapy (after the whole monetary thing) is trying to find the form of therapy that works for you, and finding a therapist that you can work with. Every human is different, and that contains both the patient and the therapist, and not everyone can just start working together right off the bat. Not to mention how long it takes for a new therapist to actually get to know you to improve the odds of the cooperation working.
Obviously I'm not saying "replace all therapists with AIs controlled by racist capitalist pigs with ulterior motives", but I have witnessed people in my own life who have had some immediate help from a fucking chatbot, which is kinda ridiculous. So in times of distress (say a borderline having such an anxiety attack that they can't calm themselves because they don't know what to do to the vicious cycle of thought and emotional response) and for immediate help a well-developed, non-capitalist LLM might be of invaluable help, especially if an actual human can't be reached if for an example (in this case) the borderline lives in a remote area and it is the middle of the night, as I can tell from personal experience it very often is. And though not every mental health emergency requires first responders on the scene or even a trip to the hospital, there is still a possibility of both being needed eventually. So a chatbot with access to necessary information in general (like techniques for self-soothing e.g. breathing exercises and so forth) and possibly even personal information (like diagnostic and medication history, though this would raise more privacy concerns to be assessed) and the capability to parse and convey them in a non-belittling way (as some doctors and nurses can be real fucking assholes at times) could/would possibly save lives.
So the problem here is capitalism, surprising no-one.
You're missing the most important point here; quoting:
Plus, an AI cannot really have your best interest at heart, plus these sorts of things open up a whole slew of very dytopian scenarios.
OK, you said "capitalism" but that's way too broad.
Also I find the example of a "mental health emergency" (as in, right now, not tonight or tomorrow) in a remote area, presumably with nobody else around to help, a bit contrived. But OK, in such extremely rare cases - presuming broadband internet still works, and the person in question is savvy enough to use the chatbot - it might be better than nothing.
But if you are facing mental health issues and a free or inexpensive AI that is available and doesn't burden your friends actually helps you, do you really care about your information and being profited from?
Put it this way, if Google was being super transparent with you and said, "we'll help treat you, and in exchange we use your info to make a few thousand dollars." Will you the individual say, "no thanks I'd rather pay a few hundred per therapy session instead"?
Even if you hate it, you have to admit it's hard to say no. Especially if it works.
Another sad aspect of non-socialised healthcare.