A stranger that can’t wipe your tears
I am doing a chat bot project that is of a scope I have never done before. Anyone who has read any of my work before, knows that I have had my ups and downs with chat bots.
To start off with. A chat bot can’t replace a human, let’s make that clear. A human voice and the human experienced can’t as of now be augmented in a realistic way. Second, a chat bot is not intelligent. The conversations are a proxy, a proxy that is acceptable at best and horribly dangerous at worse.
So what is this bot I am working on?
A Swedish version of the project can be found here.
TLDR: I have a grant that enables me to make a large scale chat bot for talk therapy together with caregivers and patients in psychiatry.
But if I was to re-tell it in my own words I would describe it as such;
Imagine you’ve had a rough day at work, and you know you’re going to a hoard of conflicts at home. You’re exhausted physically and mentally. You’re riding a bus (or driving your car). Your heart starts to beat faster, you can almost hear it in your ears. You have difficulty breathing, it is getting harder to focus. During the day you felt small incidents of this, but you plowed through the day, but now you’re alone with your thoughts. You aren’t depressed, or suffer from severe anxiety, this is new to you. This is the third day you’ve had to get off the bus, or stop the car to refocus. You’re thinking about seeking help, and you will. But right now you just need to vent. On this particular day you sit on a park bench, and you start to cry.
You cry so hard your body shakes, your vision is blurry and your hands cover your face.
Our of nowhere a stranger appears and sits next to you. Because of Covid-19 the stranger can’t touch you, put that warm hand on your shoulder, hug you. But the stranger does ask you how you are doing, if there is something you need to talk about.
So you start talking, with your face in your hands, your voice shaky, your words mumbled.
The stranger doesn’t know who you are, can’t pull out anecdotes or situations from your past like a friend, so it has to be reactive only focusing on what you say in the now. It gives you comfort
You say “I’ve had a rough day”
The stranger says “Tell me about it, load it off, I won’t judge you”
You say “I am overwhelmed at work, my co-workers don’t understand me and I’m drowning”
The stranger didn’t quite understand but it replies “I can understand that your work is very hard, and it seems to cause you great pain, is there something that you can do to make others help you”
You say “ I could talk to my boss, and ask for more time”
The stranger says “Time is always good to have”
You take a breath and realize that you have a new strategy now. You’re going to ask your boss for more time.
Then you get a second wave of attack, you remember that it doesn’t matter, because back home is an angry marital partner that feels neglected and doesn’t appreciate you.
You start crying again, and you ask the stranger for advice. And it gives you general advice, that is useful in the moment, but not much more. It is enough for you, because you needed a new perspective, not a diagnosis, not a treatment, you needed a ball plank.
That is the essence of the project.
I don’t understand what you said….can you rephrase
The anecdote of the stranger is useful, but also incorrect because a stranger CAN and WILL adapt its attitude, words and advice in reaction to your actions.
A chat bot can only REACT with preset answers. With such a poor repertoire it is bound to be a difficult to talk to it if made poorly. To start off, repetitions and the insulting phrase “I don’t understand what you said…..” will and should be avoided at all cost.
So how do you solve it?
We have some interesting ideas, but to find those our, follow this blog and keep and eye on the next part of this bot series.
So, this is basically an interactive self-help book?
Yes! In a lot of ways that is the best description of what I have in mind. You, talking to yourself, guided by the tools and knowledge of the best caregivers I know in the field of psychiatry and psychology.
In the coming months, things are going to be more clear, for both you and me dear reader.
If you wish to contribute with your thoughts, feel free to answer this survey: https://www.psytoolkit.org/c/3.0.0/survey?s=G5UCE
