频繁使用聊天机器人或增加孤独感

近日，OpenAI 与麻省理工学院（MIT）的一项最新研究发现，频繁使用ChatGPT等聊天机器人或增加人们的孤独感。

今天你练听力了吗？

🤔️小作业：

1. What key limitation of the research does co-author Cathy Fang emphasize?

A. Failure to establish a causal relationship between chatbot use and loneliness

B. The absence of longitudinal data tracking users over multiple years

C. Overrepresentation of clinical populations in the sample

D. Inability to analyze voice-based interactions

无注释原文：

OpenAI Study Finds Links Between ChatGPT Use and Loneliness

From: Bloomberg

Higher use of chatbots like ChatGPT may correspond with increased loneliness and less time spent socializing with other people, according to new research from OpenAI in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Those who spent more time typing or speaking with ChatGPT each day tended to report higher levels of emotional dependence on, and problematic use of, the chatbot, as well as heightened levels of loneliness, according to research released Friday. The findings were part of a pair of studies conducted by researchers at the two organizations and have not been peer reviewed.

The launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 helped kick off a frenzy for generative artificial intelligence. Since then, people have used chatbots for everything from coding to ersatz therapy sessions. As developers like OpenAI push out more sophisticated models and voice features that make them better at mimicking the ways humans communicate, there is arguably more potential for forming parasocial relationships with these chatbots.

In recent months, there have been renewed concerns about the potential emotional harms of this technology, particularly among younger users and those with mental health issues. Character Technologies Inc. was sued last year after its chatbot allegedly encouraged suicidal ideation in conversations with minors, including one 14-year-old who took his own life.

To conduct the studies, the researchers followed nearly 1,000 people for a month. Participants had a wide range of prior experience with ChatGPT and were randomly assigned a text-only version of it or one of two different voice-based options to use for at least five minutes per day. Some were told to carry out open-ended chats about anything they wanted; others were told to have personal or non-personal conversations with the service.

The researchers found that people who tend to get more emotionally attached in human relationships and are more trusting of the chatbot were more likely to feel lonelier and more emotionally dependent on ChatGPT. The researchers didn't find that a more engaging voice led to a more negative outcome, they said.

In the second study, researchers used software to analyze 3 million user conversations with ChatGPT and also surveyed people about how they interact with the chatbot. They found very few people actually use ChatGPT for emotional conversations.

It's still early days for this body of research and remains unclear how much chatbots may cause people to feel lonelier versus how much people prone to a sense of loneliness and emotional dependence may have those feelings exacerbated by chatbots.

Cathy Mengying Fang, a study co-author and MIT graduate student, said the researchers are wary of people using the findings to conclude that more usage of the chatbot will necessarily have negative consequences for users. The study didn't control for the amount of time people used the chatbot as a main factor, she said, and didn't compare to a control group that doesn't use chatbots.

- ◆ -

注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考

含注释全文：

OpenAI Study Finds Links Between ChatGPT Use and Loneliness

From: Bloomberg

Higher use of chatbots like ChatGPT may correspond with increased loneliness and less time spent socializing with other people, according to new research from OpenAI in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

OpenAI与麻省理工学院（Massachusetts Institute of Technology）合作的新研究发现，过度使用ChatGPT等聊天机器人可能与用户孤独感加剧及与他人社交时间缩减存在关联。

Those who spent more time typing or speaking with ChatGPT each day tended to report higher levels of emotional dependence on, and problematic use of, the chatbot, as well as heightened levels of loneliness, according to research released Friday. The findings were part of a pair of studies conducted by researchers at the two organizations and have not been peer reviewed.

根据周五发布的研究报告，每日与ChatGPT进行长时间文字或语音交互的用户，更容易出现情感依赖、使用失控等问题，同时孤独感指数也显著提升。这些研究发现是双方机构研究人员联合进行的两项研究中的一部分，尚未经过同行评审。

表示“同行评审，同行评议”，英文解释为“the evaluation by fellow specialists of research that someone has done in order to assess its suitability for publication or further development”

The launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 helped kick off a frenzy for generative artificial intelligence. Since then, people have used chatbots for everything from coding to ersatz therapy sessions. As developers like OpenAI push out more sophisticated models and voice features that make them better at mimicking the ways humans communicate, there is arguably more potential for forming parasocial relationships with these chatbots.

自2022年底ChatGPT横空出世掀起生成式人工智能（Generative AI）浪潮以来，聊天机器人已渗透于编程、心理慰藉等各个领域。随着OpenAI等开发者推出更复杂的模型以及具有拟人化语音交互的功能，用户与这些聊天机器人建立“类社交关系”的风险正在与日俱增。

kick off动词短语，表示“（足球比赛）开球，开始”，英文解释为“If a game of football kicks off, it starts.”当然，也可以指活动，事件的开始，举个🌰：What time does the game kick off? 比赛什么时候开始？

🎬电影《又一年》（Another Year）中的台词提到：- Shall I kick off? - You take the honour.-可以让我开球吗 -当然可以。

📍kick-off 名词，表示“（活动的）开始”，英文解释为“the time when an activity starts”或者表示“（足球比赛的）开球，开赛，中线开球”，英文解释为“the time when a game of football starts, or when it begins again after it has stopped because of a goal, etc.”

frenzy /ˈfren.zi/ 表示“疯狂，狂热，狂暴”，英文解释为“(an example of) uncontrolled and excited behaviour or emotion that is sometimes violent”举个🌰：The audience worked/whipped themselves into a frenzy as they waited for her to come on stage. 观众在期待她登上舞台的过程中情绪变得狂热起来。

📍这个词来自古法语的frenesie，表示“疯狂”。近义词：mania（狂热），fury（狂怒）；同根词：frenetic（狂热的）；常用短语：in a frenzy（处于狂热中）

📍work yourself into a frenzy / panic / state etc,表示“使自己变得疯狂/恐慌/紧张等”（to make yourself become very nervous, angry etc）举个🌰：He seemed to be working himself into a rage. 他似乎开始怒火中烧。

generative /ˈdʒen.ər.ə.tɪv/ 表示“有生产能力的；能生成的”，英文解释为“able to produce or create something”如：the generative power of the mind 大脑的生成能力。

📍ChatGPT全名就是：Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer.

📍词根“gen-”来自拉丁语“generare”，表示“产生”，后缀“-ative”表示形容词，即“有产生作用的”。想象生成式AI能够基于现有数据创造新内容。近义词：productive（生产的），同根词：generate（生成），常用短语：generative model（生成模型）

ersatz /ˈeə.zæts/ 表示“（通常指因为某物过于昂贵或稀有而以其他事物）代用的”，英文解释为“used instead of something else, usually because the other thing is too expensive or rare”举个🌰：I'm allowed to eat ersatz chocolate made from carob beans, but it's a poor substitute for the real thing. 他们允许我吃用角豆做的巧克力替代品，不过这种以假代真的东西太蹩脚了。

sophisticated /səˈfɪstɪˌkeɪtɪd/ 1）表示“老练的；久经世故的”，英文解释为“Someone who is sophisticated is comfortable in social situations and knows about culture, fashion, and other matters that are considered socially important.”举个🌰：He was a charming, sophisticated companion. 他是个有魅力、见多识广的伙伴。

2）表示“干练的”，英文解释为“A sophisticated person is intelligent and knows a lot, so that they are able to understand complicated situations.”举个🌰：These people are very sophisticated observers of the foreign policy scene. 这些人是外交政策领域干练的观察家。

3）表示“高级的；复杂的”，英文解释为“A sophisticated machine, device, or method is more advanced or complex than others.”举个🌰：Honeybees use one of the most sophisticated communication systems of any insect. 蜜蜂所使用的交流系统是昆虫中最复杂的之一。

mimic /ˈmɪm.ɪk/ 1）表示“模仿（人的言行举止）；（尤指）做滑稽模仿”，英文解释为“to copy the way sb speaks, moves, behaves, etc., especially in order to make other people laugh”举个🌰：She's always mimicking the teachers. 她总喜欢模仿老师的言谈举止。

2）表示“（外表或行为举止）像，似”，英文解释为“to look or behave like sth else”举个🌰：The robot was programmed to mimic a series of human movements. 机器人可按程序设计模仿人的各种动作。

表示“准社会性的；类社会性的”，英文解释为“involving or relating to a connection between a person and someone they do not know personally, for example a famous person or a character in a book”

“Parasocial”常用于描述一种社交关系，这是一种单向的心理关系，其中一个人（如观众、粉丝或消费者）对另一个不了解他们存在的人（如名人、影视角色或媒体人物）产生情感投入和心理上的依附。

📍在这种社交关系中，一个人可能会感觉像是与媒体中的人物有着真实的、互动的关系，尽管实际上这种关系是单向的，且媒体人物并不知晓这种关系的存在。观众可能会对电视节目中的角色、名人或公众人物产生强烈的情感连结，感觉他们就像是自己生活中的一部分。这种现象在现代社会中十分普遍，特别是在社交媒体和网络文化中，粉丝们常常会对他们所喜爱的名人、网络红人或虚拟角色产生强烈的社交感觉。这种关系有时被认为对个人心理健康有益，因为它提供了一种归属感和满足感，但也可能导致不切实际的期望和情感依赖。

In recent months, there have been renewed concerns about the potential emotional harms of this technology, particularly among younger users and those with mental health issues. Character Technologies Inc. was sued last year after its chatbot allegedly encouraged suicidal ideation in conversations with minors, including one 14-year-old who took his own life.

近几个月来，这项技术潜在的情感伤害再次引发人们关注，尤其是在年轻用户和有心理健康问题的用户中。去年，Character Technologies公司就因其聊天机器人在与未成年人对话中鼓励自杀念头而被告上法庭，涉案的是一名最终轻生的14岁少年。

renewed /rɪˈnjuːd/ 表示“更新”，英文解释为“begun or happening again”如：renewed interest/enthusiasm 重新产生兴趣/热情，举个🌰：Renewed fighting has been reported. 据报道，战火重燃。

sue /suː/ 表示“控告；提起诉讼；诉讼”，英文解释为“If you sue someone, you start a legal case against them, usually in order to claim money from them because they have harmed you in some way.”举个🌰：He sued for libel over the remarks. 他对那些评论提起诽谤诉讼。

ideation /ˌaɪ.diˈeɪ.ʃən/ 1）表示“想，思考；设想，构思”，英文解释为“the activity of forming ideas in the mind”举个🌰：Taking these drugs might increase suicidal ideation. 服用这些药物可能会增加自杀的念头。

2）表示“想法，念头；构想，（头脑中形成的）概念”，英文解释为“an idea of something in someone's mind”举个🌰：What I'm hearing is my ideation of how the joke is going to go over with the audience. 我所听到的是自己的一些想法，思考观众对这个笑话会如何反应。

To conduct the studies, the researchers followed nearly 1,000 people for a month. Participants had a wide range of prior experience with ChatGPT and were randomly assigned a text-only version of it or one of two different voice-based options to use for at least five minutes per day. Some were told to carry out open-ended chats about anything they wanted; others were told to have personal or non-personal conversations with the service.

为了开展这些研究，研究人员对近1000人进行了为期一个月的跟踪调查。参与者对ChatGPT的使用经验各不相同，并被随机分配使用纯文本版本或两种不同的语音版本之一，每日最低使用时长5分钟。实验设置了开放式自由对话、个人话题交流和非个人话题咨询三种对话模式。

randomly /ˈræn.dəm.li/ 表示“随机的；任意的”，英文解释为“in a way that is unexpected or does not seem to have any reason or cause”举个🌰：He just randomly shouts stuff. 他只是随意地喊着什么。

The researchers found that people who tend to get more emotionally attached in human relationships and are more trusting of the chatbot were more likely to feel lonelier and more emotionally dependent on ChatGPT. The researchers didn't find that a more engaging voice led to a more negative outcome, they said.

研究人员发现，那些在人际关系中更容易产生情感依恋且更信任聊天机器人的人，出现孤独感加剧及情感上依赖ChatGPT的概率显著提升。但更具吸引力的语音交互并未如预期般加剧这种负面效应。

engaging /ɪnˈɡeɪ.dʒɪŋ/ 表示“令人愉快的；有吸引力的；迷人的”，英文解释为“pleasant, attractive, and charming”如：an engaging smile/manner/person 迷人的微笑/迷人的风度/魅力十足的人。

In the second study, researchers used software to analyze 3 million user conversations with ChatGPT and also surveyed people about how they interact with the chatbot. They found very few people actually use ChatGPT for emotional conversations.

在第二项研究中，研究人员使用软件分析了300万用户与ChatGPT的对话数据，并就其如何与聊天机器人互动进行了调查。他们发现，将ChatGPT作为情感倾诉对象的实际比例相当有限。

It's still early days for this body of research and remains unclear how much chatbots may cause people to feel lonelier versus how much people prone to a sense of loneliness and emotional dependence may have those feelings exacerbated by chatbots.

目前研究尚处初级阶段，仍难确定是聊天机器人导致了孤独感加剧，还是原本就有孤独倾向和情感依赖的用户更容易在AI交互中强化这种感受。

versus /ˈvɜːsəs/ 经常看到缩写vs，vs.或者是单单一个v，就是指的versus，表示“（比较两种不同想法、选择等）与…相对，与…相比”，英文解释为“used to compare two different ideas, choices, etc.”如：private education versus state education 私立教育与公共教育相比，举个🌰：It is France versus Brazil in the final. 决赛是法国队对巴西队。

be prone to 表示“易于（受某事物影响或做某事）的”，英文解释为“To be prone to something, usually something bad, means to have a tendency to be affected by it or to do it.”举个🌰：For all her experience as a television reporter, she was still prone to camera nerves. 尽管有丰富的做电视记者的经验，她仍然倾向于在镜头前紧张。

📍-prone 表示“较常碰到…问题的；有做…倾向的；易于遭受…的”，英文解释为“likely to experience a particular problem more often than is usual”如：accident-prone 易出事故的，injury-prone 易受伤的，an earthquake-prone belt 地震多发带。

exacerbate /ɪɡˈzæsəˌbeɪt/ 表示“使恶化；使加重”，英文解释为“to make a bad situation worse”举个🌰：She didn't want to exacerbate the situation. 她不想使情况变得更糟。

🎬电影《僵尸肖恩》（Shaun of the Dead）中的台词提到：And that will exacerbate things for all of us. 那会使我们事情恶化的。

Cathy Mengying Fang, a study co-author and MIT graduate student, said the researchers are wary of people using the findings to conclude that more usage of the chatbot will necessarily have negative consequences for users. The study didn't control for the amount of time people used the chatbot as a main factor, she said, and didn't compare to a control group that doesn't use chatbots.

该研究的共同作者、麻省理工学院研究生方梦颖（Cathy Mengying Fang，音译）称，研究人员提醒，不应简单地将研究结果解读为频繁使用聊天机器人必然会对用户产生负面影响。她指出，该研究没有将人们使用聊天机器人的时间作为主要因素进行控制，也没有与不使用聊天机器人的对照组进行比较。

表示“（对待人或事物时）小心的，谨慎的，留神的，小心翼翼的”，英文解释为“careful when dealing with sb/sth because you think that there may be a danger or problem”举个🌰：She was wary of getting involved with him. 她唯恐和他有牵连。

📺美剧《迷失》（Lost）中的台词提到：I think you'll find people slightly wary of entering the jungle 我想你会发现 以后人们进丛林会很谨慎的。

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