Dr. Carolin Rutzmoser

AI in the crisis. Opportunities and dangers of generative AI in life crises from an action-theoretical and ethical perspective

Generative AI such as ChatGPT is now being discussed as a possible alternative or supplement to psychotherapy. While there is already critical research on this development from the field of psychology, more and more people in a ‘life crisis’ are also communicating with AI in digital spaces who do not have a mental illness in the strict sense or have not recognised it as such. From a philosophical point of view, a life crisis can be described as an experience in human life that is caused, among other things, by (upheavals) (job losses, personal losses or other drastic experiences). Such a crisis is often also a crisis of meaning, in which existential questions arise and in which one is particularly concerned with goals, priorities and one’s own motivation for action. Such ruptures challenge us to question existing structures and can open up space for self-transforming personal development. Philosophy has a wealth of knowledge here with ethical theories that focus on personality development, but also with action theory approaches that deal with the basis on which we decide on life projects and models. If we consider the experience of a crisis as a spectrum with fluid transitions between mental illness and existential ruptures, we must include both psychological and philosophical considerations in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of the use of generative AI in this area. If we assume that, on the one hand, people in crises or based on particularly transformative life experiences long for orientation in the outside world (and can increasingly find this in digital spaces and with AI chatbots) and, on the other hand, are particularly open to harmful influences but also positive changes in personality in such situations (the prerequisites for this must be examined from a philosophical perspective), then AI in crisis offers risks – but also opportunities that need to be examined more closely.