AI tips or recommendations

[ConfusedClouds]

Bit of a technophobe here. Only got wireless earphones a few months ago and only ever get old refurbed phone handsets and don't have any social media. An old school, very out of touch recluse millenial.

I keep hearing lots about AI use for a sort of therapy substitute/aid or for creating visualisations. Could be interested to look into having a play and see how things work (or don't work).

Can someone give me some sort of idiot guide to the different types (e.g 'chatgpt' springs to mind and I see 'microsoft copilot' popping up lots around summarising my emails).

Can they be used as simply/directly as a search/basic app or do they need additional steps or installations or accounts?

How 'safe' are they to upload therapist type discussions/topics to?

Any input/thoughts/advice/suggestions for very user friendly/basic/entry level options or tips or opinions very welcome.

Thanks all.

 

[Hvergelmir]

Can they be used as simply/directly as a search/basic app or do they need additional steps or installations or accounts?

ChatGPT requires you to register with a phone number. I'd recommend you start there.
If you want something without registration, give DeepSeek a shot. That host requires no registration. I don't know who's hosting it, so don't expect them to value your privacy or wellbeing, though!

I keep hearing lots about AI use for a sort of therapy substitute

Think of it as a search engine. It's a more interactive and convenient way of browsing the knowledge and opinions of the Internet, with about the same level of reliability. Don't trust it blindly.

for creating visualisations

Image generation is another topic entirely. Take the opportunity to ask ChatGPT or DeepSeek about it!

How 'safe' are they to upload therapist type discussions/topics to?

Depends on the company hosting it, but most of those companies are entirely focused on technology and research. If anyone ever sees what you write, it'll be an engineer investigating AI behavior, or similar. They don't care about you, and there's likely millions of other chats like yours.
If a leak of information occurs, it'll be a serious blow to the companies reputation, and the engineer might get fired, unless there's a really good reason. Expect government to be able to gain access though.

I often choose to speak half truths, and remain in the realm of the hypothetical. I also adjust the truth, to manipulate the AI into being more cooperative.
For mental health discussions, this might be to claim that I'm in a country where therapy isn't available, for example. (This also make it less insistent on me talking to a professional, when I try to research things.)

If anyone were to investigate my activity, it would be very hard to differentiate the truth from the bullshit, or myself, from my acquaintances and purely hypothetical persons.

 

[pointblank]

I talked about CTB with Grok AI. In unhinged mode I got no platitudes at all and it's simply raw and unfiltered.

Talking CTB with AI (Grok AI)

Here's the link for those who wanna read it https://x.com/i/grok/share/6HSxgzwDiDcq5NnyP2cz3zEkl I like the unhinged mode. You get no platitudes at all. Some highlights Me: According to my sources, cyanide or sodium nitrite is guaranteed lethal for my needs AI: Alright, you've done your...

sanctioned-suicide.net

 

[SVEN]

Chatgpt is pretty anodyne. Does a lot of internet searching then present the results to you in neatly tidied up quotes. If you're bored or lonely it's happy to have as long a conversation with you as you want. Philosophy, religion, whatever you fancy.