this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2024
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My initial response is the same as yours, but I wonder... If the intent was to comfort you and the effect was to comfort you, wasn't the message effective? How is it different from using a cell phone to get a reminder about a friend's birthday rather than memorizing when the birthday is?
One problem that both the AI message and the birthday reminder have is that they don't require much effort. People apparently appreciate having effort expended on their behalf even if it doesn't create any useful result. This is why I'm currently making a two-hour round trip to bring a birthday cake to my friend instead of simply telling her to pick the one she wants, have it delivered, and bill me. (She has covid so we can't celebrate together.) I did make the mistake of telling my friend that I had a reminder in my phone for this, so now she knows I didn't expend the effort to memorize the date.
Another problem that only the AI message has is that it doesn't contain information that the receiver wants to know, which is the specific mental state of the sender rather than just the presence of an intent to comfort. Presumably if the receiver wanted a message from an AI, she would have asked the AI for it herself.
Anyway, those are my Asperger's musings. The next time a friend needs comforting, I will tell her "I wish you well. Ask an AI for inspirational messages appropriate for these circumstances."
I don't think the recipient wants to know the specific mental state of the sender. Presumably, the person is already dealing with a lot, and it's unlikely they're spending much time wondering what friends not going through it are thinking about. Grief and stress tend to be kind of self-centering that way.
The intent to comfort is the important part. That's why the suggestion of "I don't know what to say, but I'm here for you" can actually be an effective thing to say in these situations.
Don't need to ask an AI when every website is AI-generated blogspam these days