I feel so bad for c.ai addicts
I know a lot of people say on here 'if you use c.ai unfollow me' and 'AI doesn't belong in fandom' which I agree with, but I think the anger is directed to the wrong place
As a recovered c.ai addict/over user and as someone who has many friends who are deep in their own, c.ai is like a rabbithole.
It targets teenagers/young people, and most users I find are dealing with some kind of loneliness.
Now some of you are probably thinking this is ridiculous. How could someone get addicted to an AI chat bot? But I want you to put yourself in these kids shoes.
You know how hard being a teenager is, especially if you're dealing with a mental illness of some kind. Maybe you experienced it yourself, maybe not, but imagine dealing with all that, having a deep sense of loneliness and finding this place where you're promised an escape where you can talk to characters and people that bring you so much comfort, where you can get the social interaction you crave without having to worry about being judged or messing up.
To them, it's harmless fun. it's like a interactive fanfic, where they get to play a role in the story and dictate the outcome, but for them it's taking a place in their lives where friends and human interaction should. I know multiple people who have told me that if they're not doing school or using c.ai, they're dead.
Again, these are kids. They don't see it as an addiction. They see it as an iconic, silly thing they do. It's not drugs or alcohol, so it can't be an addiction, right?
There's hundred's of thousands, if not millions, of kids with that mentality using c.ai, and c.ai isn't stupid. They're a business. There's ads on the app, they sell these kids chats to google to train gemini, and there's a goddamn subscription you can buy. $15aud a month. To get more c.ai features.
So yes, AI doesn't belong in fandom spaces, and c.ai certainly doesn't deserve to be one of the pivotal fandom websites, but the burden of that shouldn't be on the kids that are addicted to it. It should be on the capitalistic business that is taking advantage of them.