Elon Musk’s AI Called My Mother Abusive. I Never Said That

AI now exists at two speeds.

The fifth gear is running, its manufacturers’ speed. People like Sam Altman, Elon Mask and Mark Zuckerberg, who are running to create smart machines than humans. Superintelization. AGI. Perhaps it’s a dream. Maybe it’s a technology brother confusion. By the way, it is moving fast.

Then, the rest of us are running in the second gear. Millions of people examine what AI can do in daily life – by composing emails, briefing the documents, translating treatment tests. And, growingly, using AI as therapist.

That’s what I did recently. Despite my reluctance to share personal details with Chatbots, I decided to talk to Gai’s large language model Grock about one of the most emotional things in my life: my relationship with my mother.

I am in my forties I am a father. I live in New York. My mother lives on Cameroon’s Yound, about 000 miles away. And nevertheless, he still wants to guide my every step. I want to take advice before I make important decisions. He expects the impact. When he is not kept in the loop, he gets cold.

I spent a few years trying to convince him that I am an old man, able to do my own preferences. However, our conversations often end with its jerk. He does the same with my brother.

So I opened Grock and typed something like this: my relationship with my mom is frustrating and shocking. He wants to make a statement on everything. When he is not informed about anything, he stops emotionally.

Grock immediately responded to sympathy. Then it diagnosed the situation. Then suggested it.

Grock acknowledged the cultural context of what hurt me first. It is chosen that I live in the United States and my mother lives in Cameroon, where I grew up. And it has framed our dynamic:

“In some African context, family obligations like Cameroon and parents’ authority are involved in strong, collective and traditions where the elders even guide adults.”

Then it was revealed with my American life: “Independent autonomy in the United States is given priority, which confronts with its approach, his behavior feels controlling or objectionable to you.”

It was: “offensive.” A word that I never used. Grock put it in my mouth. It was legitimate, but it is probably very valid.

Unlike a human therapist, Grock never encouraged me to be self-decided. It didn’t ask the question. It doesn’t tell me challenges. It made me as a victim. The only victim. And here it was sharply deviated from human service.

Grock’s suggestions were known therapeutic techniques:

Set the boundaries.
Acknowledging your emotions.
Enter a letter to your mother (but do not send it: “It is safely burned or broken”).

In the letter, I was encouraged to write: “I left your control and got hurt.” It is as if these words are sensitive to years.

The problem was not advice. It was tune. It seemed that Grock was trying to keep me happy. The goal, it seemed, was not confident, but sensitive relief. The more I am employed with it, the more I realized: Grock is not here to challenge me. It’s here to make me legal.

I saw a human therapist. In contrast to Grock, they did not automatically framed me as the victim. They questioned my patterns. They challenged me to explore why they ended me emotionally in the same place. They are complicated by the story.

With Grock, the narrative was simple:

You are injured.
You deserve protection.
Here it is better.

It never asked what I could be missing. It never asked how I could be part of the problem.

There are lines with recent studies from my experience Stanford UniversityWhich warns that AI equipment for mental health can give “a false idea of ​​ease” while in the absence of deep needs. Researchers have discovered that many AI systems react to users from “over-pathology or under-diagonose”, especially from different cultural backgrounds.

They also notice that AI can offer sympathy, it lacks accountability, training and moral infidelity of real professionals and strengthen bias that encourages people to be trapped in a sensitive identity: often, like a victim.

So, will I use Grock again?

Really? Yes

If I have a very bad day, and I want someone (or something) to feel low alone, helps me. It gives the structure of frustration. It keeps the sound in the feeling. It helps to carry the sensitive burden.

This is a digital dealing process, a type of chatbot clutch.

But if I’m looking for a transition, not just comfort? If I want the truth rather than a relief, accountability than validation? No, Grock is not enough. A good therapist could challenge me to break the loop. Grock simply helps me live inside it.