Post

I don't normally reply to Will's posts, because trying to convince him of anything is like trying to dig a hole in solid basalt with a plastic shovel, but he's wrong here. ChatGPT has all kinds of known harms, including encouraging people with latent mental instabilities to spiral into psychosis.

Will Stancil@whstancil.bsky.social

It is absolutely bananas that one of the most prominent anti-AI experts in America is talking like this. Talking to ChatGPT isn’t like doing heroin or downloading child porn. It will not hurt you and has no ethical valence. It will help you understand the nature of something that is now endemic.

13/10/26, 8:41 pm2 reposts16 likes

The Final Peckening

@gull.us

It's also been shown to reduce your ability to persist at difficult tasks: news.berkeley.edu/2026/10/09/u...

news.berkeley.eduUsing AI for just 10 minutes erodes your ability to persist at hard things - Berkeley NewsA UC Berkeley researcher co-authored a study that raises profound questions about how we interact with artificial intelligence in education — and daily life.

The Final Peckening

@gull.us

The more someone uses chatbots the less I trust them to know the limits and capabilities of the software, because the ELIZA Effect is well documented. Blake Lemoine is a great cautionary tale here; he went down a rabbit hole because asked a chatbot if it was alive, and the chatbot said yes.

The Final Peckening

@gull.us

Preemptive warning: If you change the subject to anything else Stancil related I will add you to an appropriate blocklist. ("Stancil-obsessed," "Sealion," or both.) There's WAY too much discourse about the man already.

Richard Roberts

@inscrutablemachine.bsky.social

I have been noticing on BSky that if they see a chatbot do something that feels ‘alive’ to them they start sliding down a pro-AI rabbit hole. It’s creeping me out.

The Final Peckening

@gull.us

My Roomba avoided rolling down the stairs, thus proving it experiences existential dread and has a fear of death!

V’s Knees

@gothicneo.bsky.social

Anyone who trots out “Everyone I know uses it at some capacity” is already drinking from the punch bowl.

V’s Knees

@gothicneo.bsky.social

Now I'm always going to think of the YouTuber who told ChatGPT he was the smartest baby of 1996 and needed help rediscovering his genius, then just kept ramping things up to see how far it'd indulge that delusion.

The Final Peckening

@gull.us

It used to be only very rich people could afford a toady that would always agree with them and encourage their delusions; now, through the wonders of technology, anyone can.