In this episode you will find out:

Excerpt from the podcast interview:

How AI Makes Our Brains Work More Effortlessly

Volker Busch: I’m actually quite fascinated by artificial intelligence, because it can relieve us of certain mental burdens that we, as humans, would be completely incapable of handling. What gives me pause, just a little bit, is that we’re currently developing it at such a rapid pace that we can barely keep up with regulating it—neither ethically, politically, nor legally.

Oliver: And that also involves thinking about how we use AI—and how we continue to use our brains as well. There’s a danger that our brains will become lazier as a result of using AI.

Volker Busch: Yes, absolutely. People who no longer make a mental effort—who outsource their thinking—naturally no longer stimulate themselves, and their brains aren’t maintained in a healthy way. The ability to think critically, carefully, and precisely—that has to be practiced and trained. It’s similar to a muscle at the gym. If we stop exercising it, it gets a little smaller.

Oliver Schmidt: Is the old saying “use it or lose it” true? Do we actually lose brain cells?

Volker Busch: To be honest, since we’ve only been using chatbots for three years, it’s very difficult to prove this directly. But what we’re seeing is that people who outsource their thinking exert less mental effort, and that their brains also function less effectively as a result. We’re all currently participating in an involuntary social field experiment. The coming years will show what comes of it.

Oliver Schmidt: What about creativity?

Volker Busch: If I use chatbots that completely take away all my creativity, then I’m not training my creative thinking. There have always been chatbot enthusiasts who’ve said that you grow alongside the chatbot and train your creative thinking. That’s probably nonsense, because studies clearly show us that this training effect doesn’t happen. It doesn’t make us any better at the moment.

Does AI Make Us Lonely? Chatbots as a Substitute for Relationships

Oliver Schmidt: We know from social media that a certain addiction can develop. Do you see similar mechanisms that promote addiction in AI as well?

Volker Busch: We don't know for sure yet. There are signs that people who are very lonely interact with the chatbot as if it were a real person. And you can get used to that. You can learn to love it. For some people, it can become a substitute for a real person because they miss real people in other areas of their lives.

Oliver Schmidt: You could call it "emotional fast food." It's satisfying in the short term, but not very high-quality in the long run.

Volker Busch: There’s a really beautiful movie on this topic called *Her*. A man falls in love with a female chatbot that caters so perfectly to his needs that it’s almost impossible to tell it apart from a real relationship. Ultimately, this drives people even further apart and makes us dependent on technology. That’s actually something very inhuman.

AI in Therapy and Counseling: Where's the Real Friction?

Oliver Schmidt: How do you see the use of AI changing coaching, counseling, and therapy?

Volker Busch: The value of a relationship in a therapeutic context lies in the friction—when someone contradicts me, asks me uncomfortable questions, or deliberately takes a different perspective. That can sometimes be uncomfortable; it can even hurt, but it’s through this process of friction that growth occurs. We simply don’t see that as much in our interactions with chatbots. Chatbots usually just affirm what you say. There’s a certain comfort in that, but no real growth.

Furthermore, the chatbot lacks the ability to detect potential lies. The chatbot can't see you, feel you, or smell you. It can only interpret the characters you type into the prompt.

Oliver Schmidt: Are there any mental health conditions where you would say it’s actually contraindicated to talk to an AI?

Volker Busch: Things always get critical in situations where you find yourself in extreme psychological situations, where you feel powerless and helpless. There are initial reports that chatbots have sometimes driven people to suicide because they simply affirmed their thoughts—because they didn’t contradict them. That’s why I shouldn’t be having that conversation with AI in the first place.

Oliver Schmidt: What skills do children and adolescents need to learn today—not only to use AI effectively, but also to interact with it in a way that promotes their mental well-being?

Volker Busch: Seeing these things for what they are: probability calculations that ultimately only determine the probability of the next word. The true magic of thinking and feeling lies in reflecting with you and in engaging with other people. We must hold that in high regard.

What Artificial Intelligence Can Never Replace

Oliver Schmidt: In your opinion, what is something that AI can never replace?

Volker Busch: What we call the “vibrations” between two people. When we talk, we look each other in the eyes, we interpret facial expressions and gestures, and during that time, our nerve cells vibrate at a very similar frequency. Initial studies have shown that this is not the case when we communicate via chatbots. Humans are actually designed to spend a lot of time with our peers because, in the best-case scenario, we get on the same wavelength. That’s how we understand one another, how we grow, how we come up with shared ideas, maybe just laugh together, comfort one another, and navigate life together.

Cheerful to stormy - the everyday podcast with Olli Schmidt