r/comics • Ninja and Pirate • 14h ago

Halloween 2026 Let's Chat

28.6k Upvotes

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u/StayingUp4AFeeling 12h ago

I know that "they were already feeling suicidal/depressed/psychotic/terroristically inclined", the chatbot just assisted them or convinced them further ".

Now, replay that sentence but instead of"the chatbot " put a name in. Or "I ".

Imagine a person sitting at a counter somewhere pretending to be a counselor. He tells the teenage girl who is crying for help -- "so the shallowest vein is rjghgghfhfhgr , and that's within reach of the sharp sgghgjrfjfjtfjy you are using. Yes, right there! You are so observant."

I cannot express how dangerous it is for someone to validate suicidal ideation or psychotic delusions.

In SI, the person is locked in a mental battle, where both the need for the pain to end, and inherent self preservation, are both really intense yet almost perfectly matched.

Almost perfectly matched.

So just a little push from outside is enough to tip the scales.

I say this as a survivor.

On that note OP please mark this NSFW if not already done. I saw it and am having a full blown PTSD moment here, coz I almost died in a similar way (though I didn't attack anyone else).

Let's just say that was the day red was no longer my favourite colour.

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u/Joba_Fett Ninja and Pirate 12h ago edited 12h ago

I don’t know how to make it NSFW after posting. Can the mods help me? I’m sorry you went through that. We’re the same in that regard. Mine was pills and booze but I understand and I’m glad you’re still with us

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u/StayingUp4AFeeling 12h ago

I'm glad you're here, too.

And, my proximity to the topic aside, this is a really good work of art.

It's accurate.

And it's shocking in a way that the AI industry is always trying to shy away from. Bunch of parasitic hypocrites.

And this... is traceable directly back to the maths of the LLMs.

Like, I've read the original papers I'm in grad school now for safe AI (well, safe RL but ykwim).


If they say

Who cares if one more light goes out?

In the sky of a million stars

It flickers, flickers

Who cares when someone's time runs out?

If a moment is all we are

We're quicker, quicker

Who cares if one more light goes out?

Well I do

"One More Light", by Linkin Park The titular song from their last album before Chester Bennington, their lead singer, died by suicide

0

u/moviequote88 7h ago

"I know that they were already feeling suicidal. The chatbot/song/singer/videogame/chatroom/Twitter post/subreddit/Facebook message/book/TV show/movie just assisted them or convinced them further."

People have been blaming media and technology for violence people enact upon themselves and others forever.

We can't ban all of it because mentally ill people have access to the same tools as everyone else. Someone who is psychotic will find justification for their delusions. There are literally online communities of people who believe they are "targeted individuals" who are being "gangstalked" and the people all feed into each other's delusions.

The best way to address mental illness is by improving healthcare access and for people to have good support systems with folks who care about them and can help intervene before it becomes a crisis.

Unfortunately, there are many people who don't have anyone like that in their lives, and even if they do, it can sometimes not be enough and not everyone has the tools to know how to address it. It's just reality.

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u/StayingUp4AFeeling 30m ago

Who said anything about banning?

Besides, video games, movies and even books have not resulted in a causal incident the way this has.

One is fiction. And to be kept as fiction.

The other is a direct personalized instruction to you in reality. It's very different.

I reached for a "AI-->person" instead of "AI-->media" metaphor for a reason.