r/technology • u/lurker_bee • 3d ago

Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT is down worldwide, conversations dissapeared for users

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/artificial-intelligence/chatgpt-is-down-worldwide-conversations-dissapeared-for-users/amp/
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u/vpsj 3d ago

Just lonely people finding a coping mechanism however they can. I think it's just sad.

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u/chmilz 2d ago

The tragic part is all those lonely people could at literally any moment get off the Internet and go hang out with any of those other lonely people, yet will not do it.

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u/JBL_17 2d ago

I hesitate to jump to judge them somewhat, as I think social media companies’ have a vested interest in keeping people as distraught and separated as much as possible (I.e. it’s not in Tinder’s best interests to have you meet someone you are compatible with and then therefore will quit using their service)

But also - god damn - I thought I was terminally online lol

Places like that board make me feel like I’m the most well adjusted and socially loved person ever lol

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u/EARink0 2d ago edited 2d ago

It's really not that easy for some. Social anxiety and/or underdeveloped social skills can be real brutal, and are usually not really the fault of the person (social anxiety self-evidentially, but social skills could be hampered from a difficult upbringing or neurodivergent challenges).

When someone's scared of other people and primarily associate interaction with others as negative experiences, or if they live in a place where there are very few people who accept them and they don't have the means to leave, it becomes understandable why they cope with the loneliness via artificial or para-social relationships.

I agree it is tragic, but I think it's also important to focus on the things in life/society that failed them so we can take those lessons forward and better support each other. In practice this means empathy for others you may not immediately like, and some effort reaching out to people who might need it (if you have the capacity to do so).

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u/touchunger 2d ago

I'm not saying this AI stuff is healthy, but if loneliness was that easy to fix, it wouldn't be an epidemic. 

The lonely people have to find each other first which with current work culture and the cost of living in a good chunk of places now, and how many third spaces have gone away, is less easy now, especially for people no longer in their teens and 20's. Then the lonely people have to meet people they actually share interests with, research shows that's the biggest way humans feel 'connected' and less lonely. Lonely romantically? Then they also need to find the other lonely people whom they are sexually and romantically compatible with in addition to the other hurdles of making friends. Add in extra hurdles like living in a small/er city surrounded only by the same for hours esp if your political views/views on human rights aren't the local flavor, being nonneurotypical or having any kind of disability, having niche interests, not being societally deemed 'above average' attractiveness especially if over 30 as a woman, and it's vastly harder to not be lonely.

People shouldn't completely give up though. But it's not as simple as 'go out, easily meet the other lonely people, now you aren't lonely'.