As AI chatbots become increasingly integrated into daily life, concerns about their reliability and the potential risks of sharing personal information with them continue to grow. Picture: Michael Sherman/IOL/Google Gemini
Image: Michael Sherman/IOL/Google Gemini
It’s a bit of a recurring theme at the moment, but just how much should you really trust your AI chatbot of choice?
We’ve already seen AI make some massive mistakes that have led to an entire database of company being deleted almost instantly, and clear-cut lying of an AI when asked to time someone going for a run.
There are new examples every day of AI being completely and often deliberately inaccurate, yet it is still becoming more and more integrated into our every day life.
People rely on AI for anything from financial, emotional and health advice with growing faith - and this is not the way it should be at all.
Call me sceptical, but I’m always wary of giving any AI app more than the bare minimum of information. As these tools become increasingly embedded in our daily lives, though, that’s becoming harder and harder to avoid.
I’ve written about it before — particularly when the ChatGPT caricature trend exploded a few months ago. People were uploading photos of themselves while also volunteering details about their hobbies, interests, and personalities.
Sure, it was mostly harmless fun, but at the same time, we were also helping these AI apps build increasingly detailed digital profiles of us.
Personally, the less an AI app knows about me, the better. Instead, approach it like a work colleague that you wouldn't share al your personal information with, unless it was absolutely necessary.
There’s no disputing that AI is convenient, but it also removes more of the human element from major life decisions.
And when you combine that with people asking these same apps for health, relationship, or financial advice, the amount of personal information being handed over grows at an alarming rate.
Maybe I’m just cynical, but years of watching films like Terminator 2: Judgment Day, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and I, Robot left me with a healthy mistrust of “the robots”.
That’s why I still believe we should err on the side of caution when it comes to AI — useful as it may be.