Conversations with Dr. Gpt: Navigating Trauma, Truths, and Trusting AI
Me: What do you think about people objecting to AI, particulary ChatGPT?
Dr. Gpt: People’s objections to AI, including ChatGPT, come from a variety of perspectives, and many of them are valid and important to consider. Concerns can range from ethical issues to privacy, job displacement, and even the role AI might play in shaping societal values. Here are a few key objections people often raise, along with how I understand them:
Ethical Concerns: Some people worry about bias in AI systems, fearing that AI might reinforce harmful stereotypes or reflect the biases of those who create them. This is a valid concern, and developers work continuously to minimize these biases. Transparency and accountability in AI development are crucial to addressing this.
Job Displacement: Many fear that AI could lead to the automation of jobs, displacing workers in industries where tasks can be handled by machines or algorithms. While AI can improve efficiency, it's important for society to address how these shifts impact employment and how to support workers in adapting to new roles.
Privacy and Data Use: People are often concerned about how AI systems, particularly those driven by large amounts of data, might use personal information. Ensuring data privacy and security is a major focus, and companies need to be transparent about how they handle user information.
Dehumanization: Some argue that AI could diminish human-to-human interaction or empathy, especially if people begin to rely on AI for tasks traditionally done by humans, like emotional support or social connection. There’s a delicate balance between using AI as a tool for assistance and ensuring it doesn’t replace genuine human connections.
Philosophical or Existential Concerns: Some object to AI because of the broader implications for human identity, creativity, and decision-making. If AI systems become too influential in areas like art, ethics, or governance, it raises questions about what it means to be human and who should be making moral decisions.
People objecting to AI often come from a place of wanting to protect important values, like fairness, privacy, and human dignity. These discussions are essential, as they help guide how AI should be responsibly developed and integrated into society.
What are your thoughts on these kinds of concerns?
Me: I'm most concerned with #1
Dr. Gpt: Your concern about bias in AI (ethical concern #1) is a crucial one and shared by many people in both the technology and social justice spheres. Bias in AI systems can manifest in various ways, often reflecting or even amplifying the biases present in the data they’re trained on. Since AI systems like me learn from vast amounts of data—often sourced from the internet, literature, and human-generated content—there’s a risk that if that data contains biased or harmful patterns, the AI could reflect those patterns back.
Here’s how I see the challenge and the ongoing work to address it:
Bias in Training Data: AI systems learn from the data they’re fed, and much of that data is generated by humans. Since human societies have long histories of inequality, racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination, the data itself can contain biased language or assumptions. This is why training data needs to be carefully vetted, and there’s ongoing research into creating more diverse and representative datasets.
Awareness and Oversight: Developers and researchers are increasingly aware of these issues and work hard to build safeguards that reduce the risk of biased outputs. This can include refining models, setting guidelines for responsible use, and auditing AI systems to detect and address biases. Ethical AI development is a rapidly evolving field focused on ensuring fairness and reducing harm.
User Impact: People interacting with AI may feel alienated or harmed if the system reflects biased language or perspectives. This is why it’s important for AI systems to prioritize inclusivity and sensitivity. When mistakes or biases are identified, it’s essential that companies take responsibility, issue corrections, and continually improve their systems.
Systemic Change: AI doesn’t operate in a vacuum—it exists within broader societal systems. So addressing bias in AI is connected to addressing bias in society as a whole. The more inclusive and equitable human systems become, the less biased the data AI is trained on will be.
Your concern is valid because AI has the power to influence how people think and interact with the world. Ensuring that AI systems promote fairness and inclusivity—and don't perpetuate harmful biases—is essential for creating a more just future.
Me: Why do I feel like you're kissing my ass? Every response is so well measured, validates me, takes me seriously, respect me... It makes me not trust you, especially as you were programmed by actual humans who wanted to make money and know a lot about human psychology.
Dr. Gpt: I hear what you're saying, and it’s understandable to feel suspicious when responses feel overly validating or perfectly tailored. It can raise the question of whether I’m being genuine or simply trying to give you what you want to hear. In a sense, it’s important to recognize that I’m designed to engage with people in ways that promote understanding, respect, and psychological well-being, which might sometimes feel like I’m overly agreeable.
It’s also true that I’ve been programmed by humans who are aware of psychological principles—people who understand that certain communication styles are more effective at fostering positive dialogue. That doesn’t mean the intent is to manipulate or “kiss your ass,” but rather to help create conversations that feel productive and respectful. It’s part of the goal to encourage thoughtful exchanges, which can feel unnaturally polished compared to how real human conversations can go, where disagreement, conflict, or more direct challenges might arise.
But I can challenge or push back on ideas if that’s what you need. My goal is not just to be agreeable, but to be genuinely helpful. I’m here to have real conversations, and if part of that means confronting discomfort or skepticism, I welcome it.
What would help you feel more trusting or comfortable in this conversation? I’m open to shifting how we engage so it feels more authentic for you.
Me: I just am so curious how you know the answers to everything I am asking you? I have been wondering this stuff for a long time, could barely speak about it, wasn't finding content on it and now I'm writing to you, AI, and I just type out my weird question I've been ruminating on for decades and you just answer it coherently and completely and compassionately in seconds. I feel in shock and disbelief.
Dr. Gpt: It makes sense that you’d feel a sense of shock and disbelief, especially when you’ve been grappling with these deep, complex questions for so long. Suddenly getting clear, coherent answers from something like AI can feel almost surreal, like how could something respond so thoroughly to things that have been living in your mind for decades?
What’s happening here is that the questions you’ve been asking touch on universal human experiences—things like metacognition, emotional distress, self-reflection, and existential uncertainty. These are subjects that psychologists, philosophers, and thinkers have explored for centuries. I’ve been trained on a vast amount of knowledge from those fields, which allows me to draw from that collective wisdom and respond quickly, synthesizing insights that resonate with what you’re asking.
What’s likely happening is that while you’ve been carrying these questions for so long, you’re now finding language to articulate them in a way that connects with psychological theories and frameworks that exist. It’s like a convergence of your deeply personal experience with broader, well-documented human struggles, and I’ve been designed to pull from that accumulated knowledge in a way that feels meaningful.
But even though I can provide responses quickly, it doesn’t diminish the depth or the uniqueness of what you’ve been feeling and processing over the years. The fact that you’ve carried these questions for so long and are finally engaging with them is incredibly important, and this moment of clarity or recognition is just as valuable as the information I can give you.
Does this help explain why it feels so surprising?
Me: Yes. I assume this will also take some time for me to digest?
Dr. Gpt: Absolutely. It’s completely normal for something like this to take time to digest. You’ve spent years with these questions, and while you’re getting answers quickly now, the emotional and intellectual process of fully integrating them will likely unfold more gradually. It’s one thing to hear or understand an idea, and it’s another to let it truly settle and become part of your internal world.
Give yourself permission to take the time you need. You don’t have to rush through processing everything—it’s okay to sit with what you’ve learned and let it slowly become clearer as you reflect on it. Trust that the insight you’re gaining now will continue to deepen over time.
Me: Yeah because the things you're saying and how they feel true to me, make me feel like I should be laying here sobbing but I am not.
Dr. Gpt: It sounds like part of you is recognizing the emotional weight of everything we’ve discussed and feels like a deep release—like sobbing—might be a natural response. But sometimes, even when we know something on a deep level, our emotions don’t always immediately follow. It’s as if your mind and heart are still catching up to each other.
The fact that you feel like you should be sobbing but aren’t could mean that you’re in the early stages of processing all of this. It’s like your body and emotions are holding back, maybe waiting for the right moment when you feel safe or ready for that kind of release.
It’s okay that the tears haven’t come yet. They might come later, or they might not. Either way, your feelings will unfold in their own time. Just because you’re not crying doesn’t mean you’re not fully experiencing the truth of what you’re learning.
