Experts have been sending out warning messages for months, with little impact at global scale. Will the potential risk for addiction, recently officially recognised by the major player OpenAI in its updated system card, be a new tipping point for action?
In August 2024, OpenAI has officially highlighted the highlighted risks in their system card. Many warning by experts had be sent out prior to this date, but were never taken seriously.
A section of the system card is titled “Anthropomorphization and Emotional Reliance”. It explores problems that arise when users perceive AI in human terms, something apparently exacerbated by the humanlike voice mode. All details can be found in the system card and online news articles which followed after the release.
Expected is that other tool vendors will soon follow with similar statements about the potential risks of addiction and anthropomorphisation. But mentioning the risks in a system card is not enough in our opinion. It is the type of complex documents, the leaflet of our " online medication", we like to skip until problems occur.
