'What happens when people fall in love with AI?' Former Google CEO warns ChatGPT users

Google may be bullish about its grand AI plans but it former CEO is sceptical about its impact on human connections. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt issued a warning about the impact of artificial intelligence technology on society. In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Schmidt expressed his concerns about the potential risks that arise when people become too emotionally attached to their AI tutors or assistants.

AI technology has the potential to address significant issues facing society, but Schmidt is concerned about how it could be used to manipulate people's day-to-day lives, affecting how democracies work. Schmidt stressed the importance of deploying AI in a way that does more good than harm.

Schmidt highlighted the example of how AI could revolutionize the education industry by providing global access to AI tutors. He cautioned that AI technology should be used in ways that do not harm people, such as deepfakes and cyberattacks, and warned that people developing emotional attachments to AI tutors could be an extraordinary new challenge.

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Schmidt said, "We face extraordinary new challenges from these things, whether it’s the deepfakes that you’ve discussed, or what happens when people fall in love with their AI tutor?"

The former Google executive believes that society needs to prevent the negative impact of AI technology while ensuring that it delivers the benefits that it promises.

The prominence of AI, ChatGPT, Bard

AI has been a buzzword up until late last year when OpenAI made ChatGPT public. The fact that a highly complex generative AI was available to almost anyone with an email account created disruption across sectors. The chatbot was the quickest platform to have gained over 100 million daily active users. It beat the popular short-video application TikTok by reaching this milestone in a matter of just two months. 

Also read: 'Might take toll on low-skilled staff': How AI can cost BPO, IT employees their jobs

The former Google CEO might be a skeptic when it comes to generative AI, but Google has already laid out its grand plans to take on OpenAI and ChatGPT. The company has rolled out Bard AI to select audiences to test it out and will be rolling out to different geographies soon. 

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