One answer ChatGPT can’t give

As we watch ChatGPT and other AI disrupt the world around us in real-time, we need to remember that one area can’t be answered by technology alone — how to live effectively as ourselves.

If you aren’t up to date on what ChatGPT is, I recommend taking a quick Google and even having a play with it yourself. We are seeing the emerging AI that has been long anticipated by futurists and doomsayers and it is creating zealots and deniers across the spectrum. Just this week (at time of writing), we have seen several Australian states outright ban ChatGPT from high schools, with South Australia officially allowing it. The SA Education Minister argues that to prohibit its use in schools is to create an unnecessary gulf between school education and what is actually being used in industry. He argues that we must allow it, but with caution — not complete free reign, but finding ways to keep it in check, while we adapt our systems to the new world we are finding ourselves in. At time of writing, Adelaide University has just communicated a very similar stance.

For many, this is all very exciting and scary. I have personally worked with tech most of my life, and so I tend to be slightly skewed towards the techno-optimistic. But seeing the intersection of new tech with wellbeing, psychology, and self-care in general has taught me one important lesson: technology can be a very useful tool for facilitating self-wellbeing, but it can’t provide all answers specific to us. Whether perusing a psychology textbook, armchair Googling through wellbeing articles, or now asking our AI friends to simply give us the answers to our emotional and psychological questions, we can become equipped with a lot more information and context about the human condition. But it is only through life experience and proper reflection that we can synthesize all of this data into strategies for our own personal human condition.

One example: I have learned that taking long walks is one of the most effective ways for me to process all the swirling information that has been filling my head during the week. When I am working on a creative project, a walk works both as a decent break and as a sure-fire way to generate new ideas — away from the habitual thinking that happens at my desk. Yes, it is true that you can find many articles suggesting walks for these benefits. It is also true that you will find many articles suggesting a work-out at the gym. I am sure gym works great for many people for mental recovery, but it does nothing for me. In fact, personally I find gym requiring so much focus and intensity itself that I never come away feeling mentally refreshed like I do with a good walk. I only know this through honest reflection with myself. I am only certain about this through my own life experience.

So, should we ignore the answers that search engines or AI give to us? Of course not. We have the internet in our pockets, and it empowers us like never before. But as it is clearly faster to Google most answers than to figure them out in our brains, we need to remember that one area can’t be answered by technology alone — how to live effectively as ourselves.