In October 2023, there were articles about Character AI’s claim that users spend a couple of hours a day on average using their service. (I’ve heard somewhere figures much higher than that for some users, but having a hard time finding any to support it currently)
Putting aside even the questions of AI here, of which there are many, it strikes me as a bit weird and maybe even gross that we’re still in an age where service providers measure “success” according to how many hours per day they can addict people. What will happen when the path reaches totality, and users are addicted 24/7 (if they are not already, that is)? Presumably they will find some other metrics for the reduction of the human spirit down into the gulleys of endless hungry algorithms.
But it deserves repeating: this is not an accomplishment. This is not good, healthy, or normal. This is not something to be proud of. Getting people to waste their time and their lives feeding data into your machines. I’d like to think our best minds can come up with better goals and things to do with the technologies ahead of us.
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