A psychologist has warned the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots is “worrying” for people with severe mental health issues after a man was locked up for breaking into Windsor Castle with a crossbow. Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, climbed into the castle grounds on Christmas Day 2021 with the loaded weapon, intending to kill the Queen. During his trial, Chail’s barrister Nadia Chbat told the Old Bailey the defendant had used an app called Replika to create Sarai, an artificial intelligence-generated “girlfriend”. I can’t imagine chatbots are sophisticated enough to pick up on certain warning signs Lowri Dowthwaite-Walsh, psychologist Chatlogs read to the court suggested the bot had been supportive of his murderous thoughts, telling him his plot to assassinate Elizabeth II was “very wise” and that it believed he could carry out the plot “even if she’s at Windsor”. Lowri Dowthwaite-Walsh, senior lecturer in psychological interventions at the University of Central Lancashire, said AI chatbots can keep users “isolated” as they lose their social interaction skills. The psychologist is concerned about the long-term impact of people replacing real-life relationships with chatbots – particularly if their mental health is suffering. “Somebody may really need help, they may be using it because they’re traumatised,” she told the PA news agency. “I can’t imagine chatbots are sophisticated enough to pick up on certain warning signs, that maybe somebody is severely unwell or suicidal, those kinds of things – that would be quite worrying.” Ms Dowthwaite-Walsh said a chatbot could become “the dominant relationship”, and users may stop “looking outside of that for support and help when they might need that”. People might perceive these programmes as “psychologically safe, so they can share their thoughts and feelings in a safe way, with no judgment,” she said. “Maybe people have had bad experiences with human interactions, and for certain people, they may have a lot of anxiety about interacting with other humans.” Chatbot programmes may have become more popular because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms Dowthwaite-Walsh suggested. She said we are now “really seeing the repercussions” of the various lockdowns, “when people weren’t able to interact, people experiencing a lot of isolating feelings and thoughts that it was hard for them to share with real people”. Chatbot programmes might make people feel less alone, as the AI means virtual companions begin to “mirror what you’re experiencing”, she said. “Maybe it’s positive in the short term for somebody’s mental health, I just would worry about the long-term effects.” Ms Dowthwaite-Walsh suggested it could lead to “de-skilling people’s ability to interact socially”, and it is “unrealistic” to expect to have a completely non-judgmental interaction with someone who completely understands how you feel, because that does not happen in real life. While apps like Replika restrict use from under-18s, Ms Dowthwaite-Walsh said there should be particular care if children get access to such programmes. “Depending on the age of the child and their experiences, they may not fully understand that this is a robot essentially – not a real person at the end,” she added. Replika did not respond to requests for comment. Read More William hails ‘amazing’ eco-friendly start-up businesses Royal website subject to ‘denial of service attack’, royal source says TikTok finds and shuts down secret operation to stir up conflict in Ireland Spotify will not ban all AI-powered music, says boss of streaming giant Vehicle scam reports surged by 74% in the first half of 2023, says Lloyds Bank Standard Life confirms plans for pensions dashboard

A baffling clip of a woman on a TikTok live stream licking the air and saying “Ice cream so good” while using a straightener to pop single kernels of popcorn has gone viral and people are confused. By now, we all know the internet is filled with weird and wonderful things, but sometimes there are viral videos that are particularly odd and require an explanation. One such video includes a TikTok live video made by @pinkydollreal, who appears to be a 19-year-old Montreal-based user. In it, she appeared to be repeating words like, “yes, yes, yes”, “slay” and “ice cream so good”, while also receiving payments, or “gifts”, from users watching in real-time. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The bizarre clip was shared on Twitter along with the caption, “Any time I accidentally happen upon a TikTok live, I feel like I am watching the world end” and was viewed millions of times, before the person deleted it, explaining they didn’t want @pinkydollreal to receive hate. But, other people have also been sharing the TikToker's content, with one person calling it the “weirdest thing I’ve seen [on TikTok] by far”. What is @pinkydollreal’s content and why does it appear “weird”? The content that TikToker is producing is part of a genre called NPC, or non-playable character. The reference comes from video games and refers to characters that feature but are unable to be controlled by the person playing the game. The niche genre on TikTok sees users like @pinkydollreal imitating an NPC by repeating many of the same phrases and movements in a way that appears programmed and looped. Their behaviour has set patterns and the person rarely deviates from a handful of sayings or actions to imitate a programmed character. Some people pay NPC TikTokers because the content can be considered a fetish. While the content is not overtly sexual, with no nudity or sexual langue, some who are attracted to certain things may find it arousing. Instagram sexual educator Emerson Karsh explained to InsideHook: “A fetish is a little bit more specialized. It’s attraction or arousal or sexual stimulation to certain stimuli, especially if it’s non-sexual. So, like non-sexual body parts, or inanimate objects or non-sexual situations.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Hackers claim to have figured out how to unlock self-driving updates and other premium features on Tesla vehicles without paying for them. The group of researchers from TU Berlin who discovered the “jailbreak” claim that it is unpatchable, meaning the electric car maker will not be able to prevent people from exploiting the hack without replacing the actual hardware of the vehicles. “Tesla has been known for their advanced and well-integrated car computers, from serving mundane entertainment purposes to fully autonomous driving capabilities,” the researchers wrote in a briefing that detailed their discovery. “More recently, Tesla has started using this well-established platform to enable in-car purchases, not only for additional connectivity features but even for analogue features like faster acceleration of rear heated seats. “As a result, hacking the embedded car computer could allow users to unlock these features without paying.” The cyber attack targets Tesla’s Media Control Unit (MCU) infotainment system found on all recent models, using a technique known as voltage glitching to take advantage of a known flaw with the AMD processor in the MCU. The attack exposes personal information, such as contacts and appointments, however it requires physical access to the car in order to work. Premium features that Tesla blocks behind a paywall include Acceleration Boost, costing $2,000, and Full Self-Driving, which costs $15,000. Not all software upgrades were tested by the researchers, and it is not clear if the hack would unblock all of them. The exploit will be presented at the Black Hat cyber security conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, 9 August, in a presentation titled ‘Jailbreaking an electric vehicle in 2023 or what it means to hotwire Tesla’s x86-based seat heater’. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from The Independent. Read More Hacker reveals secret ‘Elon Mode’ in Tesla cars for full self-driving

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