Tibor Kalman, 'Bad Boy' of Graphic Design, 49, Dies
By Steven Heller
Tibor
Kalman, a graphic designer whose innovative ideas about art and society
helped change the way a generation of designers and their clients
viewed the world, died on Sunday at the Hyatt Dorado Hotel near San
Juan, P.R. He was 49 and lived in Manhattan.
Mr.
Kalman decided to spend his last days in Puerto Rico after losing a
four-year bout with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, his wife, Maira Kalman, said.
The
founder of M&Co, a revolutionary New York design firm that became a
social prod to his major clients as much as a graphics resource, Mr.
Kalman was also the former editor in chief of Colors magazine, an art
director and a director of music videos and television commercials.
He
was the self-styled bad boy of the graphic design profession and a
harsh critic of formulaic or what he pejoratively termed
''professional'' design. He wanted designers to take greater
responsibility for how their work influenced the surrounding culture. As
the designer Milton Glaser asserted, ''He emerged in such a short
amount of time as a major influence on a young generation.''
Mr.
Kalman described himself as more a social activist than a designer and
constantly sought to use his work to promote causes like
environmentalism and economic equality. He opposed products that he
considered harmful to the workers who made them, the environment or the
consumer and never hesitated to tell his clients what he thought.
After
spending almost a decade building a business that he said sold ''design
by the pound'' to banks, discount department stores and other
institutions, Mr. Kalman reinvented M&Co in the mid-1980's as a
conceptually progressive firm doing graphics, exhibitions, books,
magazines and film titles primarily for cultural clients that included
the rock band Talking Heads, the Times Square Redevelopment Corporation
and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
He
also founded M&Co Labs, which conceived and manufactured watches
and clocks with quirky faces and rearranged numerals, products that
helped start a fashion for such designer-made objects.
Tibor
Kalman was born in Budapest in 1949 and immigrated with his family to
Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1957 after the unsuccessful Hungarian uprising
against the Communist regime. He spent a year at New York University,
where he joined Students for a Democratic Society and traveled to Cuba
to pick cotton with the Venceremos Brigade, which took middle-class
Americans to help support the Communists.
When
he returned to the United States in 1971, Mr. Kalman learned
rudimentary graphic design by doing window displays for the Student Book
Exchange at N.Y.U., which was owned by Leonard Riggio, who later bought
Barnes & Noble and made Mr. Kalman its first creative director. He
designed the bookstore's first shopping bag, featuring an antique
woodcut of a scribe, which is still used today.
Knowing
little about the nuances of typography, however, Mr. Kalman hired young
design school graduates to execute his ideas while he retained creative
control, a practice he continued throughout his career.
A Sledgehammer And a 'Goofy' Room
In
1979 he was hired as the creative director responsible for signs and
displays for E. J. Korvettes, the discount department store. Unhappy in
this lucrative job, in 1980 he established M&Co in his Greenwich
Village apartment. A year later he moved it to an office on West 57th
Street in Manhattan. His first work was designing logos for department
stores for a bag manufacturer. But Mr. Kalman was not content working on
such commonplace assignments and decided to change his focus.
The
firm's enigmatic name was typical of Mr. Kalman's wit. The
corporate-sounding cadence was meant to give an aura of mystery and to
confuse his more strait-laced clientele, who always wanted to know who
the M was. His wife, Maira, a children's book author and illustrator,
has the nickname ''M,'' which she donated to the cause.
Mr.
Kalman's new office was designed to establish an unconventional aura
and featured what he called ''a goofy, triangular-shaped table that fit
into a goofy-shaped conference room,'' as well as a hole smashed out of
one wall by a sledge hammer for a reception window.
Mr.
Kalman's metamorphosis into a progressive design impresario came when
M&Co designed a Talking Heads album that featured four digitally
manipulated photographs of the group members (before personal computer
software made this a common graphic conceit) and a title with
upside-down letters. From then on, M&Co received attention in the
design trade press for pushing beyond the conventions of design and
typography.
Urging Designers To Be Responsible
Mr.
Kalman soon moved his office to a downtown loft that he had designed to
simulate the interior of an old factory. This was consistent with his
passion for vernacular design. He encouraged his designers to apply the
handmade signs and common methods used by neighborhood printers who do
menus and handbills. Ultimately, vernacularism became a way for him to
protest the corporate International Style.
As
a frequent lecturer and a writer of acerbic manifestoes, Mr. Kalman
urged designers to take more responsibility for their work's impact on
society and culture. In 1986 he was co-chairman of the American
Institute of Graphic Arts' national conference in San Antonio, called
''Dangerous Ideas.'' It was the first such major event to focus
attention on how designers contribute to environmental waste and promote
products that harm people or the environment.
M&Co
became Mr. Kalman's soapbox. To address homelessness, he sent boxes
with the contents of a typical city shelter meal to clients one
Christmas season instead of the usual presents, noting that M&Co
would match all monetary contributions.
Graphic
design was too small a platform for Mr. Kalman. He gradually moved away
from graphics as such to editing and creative direction for the
magazines Art Forum and Interview. But perhaps his most meaningful job
was as editor in chief of Colors, the Italian and English magazine
published by the Italian clothing company Benetton, an assignment that
forced him to discontinue M&Co temporarily and move his family to
Rome.
Colors, founded by a
photographer, Oliviero Toscani, was not a typical corporate house organ
or fashion magazine, but rather focused on sociocultural issues like
racism, AIDS and even sports. Colors was ''the first magazine for the
global village,'' Mr. Kalman said, ''aimed at an audience of flexible
minds, young people from 14 to 20, or curious people of any age.''
Colors
became the main outlet for Mr. Kalman's ideas. An issue devoted to
racism had a feature titled ''How to Change Your Race'' and examined
cosmetic means of altering hair, features and skin color to achieve some
kind of platonic ideal. Also in that issue, ''What If. . .,'' was a
collection of manipulated photographs showing famous people racially
transformed: Queen Elizabeth and Arnold Schwarzenegger as black; Pope
John Paul II as Asian; Spike Lee as white and Michael Jackson with a
Nordic cast. ''Race is not the real issue here,'' Mr. Kalman said.
''Power and sex are the dominant forces in the world.''
Mr.
Kalman returned to New York in 1997 after three years as Colors editor
to battle cancer. He re-established M&Co to produce and design
exhibits, videos and books that had social relevance. Among his projects
was a photographic series quoting everyday people's relationship to
Times Square, which hung on scaffolding during the recent construction
of the Conde Nast building in Times Square, and a series of Op Art
contributions to The New York Times Op-Ed page.
During
his cancer treatments he also taught a pictorial narrative class to
graduate students at the School of Visual Arts and directed work on his
monograph, ''Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist.''
In
addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Lulu Bodoni, and a
son, Alex Onomatopoeia; his parents, Marianne and George Kalman of
Gwyned, Pa.; a brother, John of Horsham, Pa., and a sister, Margie of
Bristol, Pa.
In the last months of his
life, Mr. Kalman designed the exhibition ''Tiborocity,'' which will
open at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in July. It will consist
of ''neighborhoods'' representing different aspects of his work as well
as the protest posters and graphics that influenced him in the 1960's
and 70's. Mr. Kalman told friends he intended the retrospective to be
his last testament.
Ce poème de jeunesse fut publié par Mallarmé en 1865 dans le recueil
poétique collectif Le Parnasse contemporain, dans le sillage des Fleurs du
Mal de Baudelaire. Il traduit l'impossible quête de l'absolu qui hanta le poète
toute sa vie.
La chair est triste, hélas ! et j'ai lu tous les livres.
Fuir ! là-bas fuir ! Je sens que des oiseaux sont ivres
D'être parmi l'écume inconnue et les cieux !
Rien, ni les vieux jardins reflétés par les yeux
Ne retiendra ce cœur qui dans la mer se trempe
Ô nuits ! ni la clarté déserte de ma lampe
Sur le vide papier que la blancheur défend,
Et ni la jeune femme allaitant son enfant.
Je partirai ! Steamer2
balançant ta mâture3
Lève l'ancre pour une exotique nature !
Un Ennui, désolé par les cruels espoirs,
Croit encore à l'adieu suprême des mouchoirs !
Et, peut-être, les mâts, invitant les orages
Sont-ils de ceux qu'un vent penche sur les naufrages
Perdus, sans mâts, sans mâts, ni fertiles îlots...
Mais, ô mon coeur, entends le chant des matelots !
At 7AM I heard the metal klink of a tire iron on asphalt and went out onto the porch to investigate. A young man was on the street below wrestling with a flat tire. He was parked directly opposite my house which is a main artery and often a very busy street. I went down and saw he was in the line of traffic jumping on the tire iron to loosen the lug nuts. I told my husband, "If he got hurt I would never forgive myself. I have an orange traffic cone in the back yard. I am going to go get it." I brought out the cone and said "I didn't want you to get hurt, this is a busy street with distracted drivers." I asked him if he needed some WD40. "Yes please, and thank you," he said. I ran inside to my husband's workshop and got it. I heard my neighbor call work. "I'm going to be a little late," he said. How low key, I thought.
I gave him the can of WD40 and went back inside to drink my iced coffee. After about 10 minutes I came out to check on him. He had been able to get the lug nuts off but the tire wouldn't budge. "Can I borrow that WD40 again?" I ran back inside and got it. The tire was not coming off. Then I remembered that I could get help for anyone using my triple A card. I asked him, "Would you like me to call triple A? I can get help for you on my card." "Thank you," he said. I phoned triple A and a woman named Philomena answered. "Hi Philomena I am here on the street in front of my house helping a neighbor with a flat tire." "Do you have a triple A card with you?" "Oops, I am going to go inside and get it out of my wallet but I will keep you on the line. Okay I'm up the stairs, now stepping over dog toys." "Take your time," she laughed. "Okay I have my wallet, now I need to step into the light. Okay, here it is. Oops it says expired 2021. I believe we are up to date though. "It will still work," she said. "Okay, does the vehicle have a spare? "Yes, a donut, and it's round," I said, laughing. "Not a Flintstone tire." She laughed too. "Okay thank you, Philomena, have a wonderful day and thanks for laughing at my joke."
The flatbed arrived pretty quickly. The friendly driver had a thick Boston accent. He got the tire off, put on the spare, finished up and drove off. I asked my neighbor, "What's your name?" "Richard." "I am Emily but I am terrible with names. "Me too," he said. "I was named after Emily Dickinson. "I am Richard the third!" We laughed. "Now I will definitely remember," I said.
The actual mechanics of songwriting is only understandable up to a certain point and it’s frustrating because it’s at that point that it begins to matter. Creativity is an act of magic rising up from your subconscious. It feels wonderful every time it happens, and I’ve learned to live with the anxiety of it not happening over long periods of time. Bruce Springsteen
When I was a kid I had a View Master with images of Bugs Bunny's underground apartment. I loved it. I wanted the same apartment when I grew up. And here I am. I love being underground. Introvert heaven.
I listen to audiobooks when I wouldn’t otherwise be engaging a
book—say, at the gym or while walking. That’s certainly an advantage of
listening over reading. But I was surprised to find that Willingham
didn’t mention what I consider to be the biggest difference between the
two mediums: Engagement.
The critical difference, for me, between reading and listening is
that reading is something you do, where listening is something that
happens to you. Reading is an act of engagement. The words on the page
aren’t going to read themselves, which is something they literally do in
an audiobook.
t the end of the day, time spent
contemplating new ideas and experiencing new worlds is what matters. And
if audiobooks open new ideas and worlds for you, then that’s all that
counts. Kody Commers
What I’m going to say is going to sound so pompous, but I think an artist, whether it’s a painter or a writer, it’s almost holy. There’s something about the vision, the wisdom. You can be a nobody, but seeing that way, it’s holy, it’s godlike. It’s above the normal life and perception of all of us, normally. You step up. And as long as you’re up there, even if you’re a terrible person—especially if you’re a terrible person—you see things that come together, and shake you, or move you, or clarify something for you that outside of your art you would not have known. It really is a vision above, or beyond.
A Massachusetts neighborhood is on high alert this weekend after a 5-foot lizard escaped from a local home.
The
water monitor lizard, named Goose, snuck out of a home in Webster on
Friday, and its whereabouts remained unknown Saturday evening, local
officials said. Police conducted a limited search of the area around the
home for the lizard, which was owned illegally.
After consulting with professionals, police called off the search Friday night.
“We
were notified many hours after he went missing, so he could honestly be
anywhere,” a spokesperson for Webster Animal Control told the Globe
Saturday.
Water monitor lizards are known to travel, climb trees, and seek out water.They do not attack humans or dogs and cats, animal control said in the post.
Police
are urging Webster residents to call animal control or the police
department if they spot the lizard. They strongly advise residents
against approaching the lizard themselves.
Water
monitors can reach lengths exceeding eight feet, according to the US
Geological Survey (USGS). The lizards prey on invertebrates, fish,
corpses, and feces.
The
species is native to most of Southeast Asia and today largely populates
the coasts of Florida. Water monitors in Florida and California are
most likely escaped or released pets, according to a USGS webpage for
the species.
Books sit on the shelves at a school where U.S.
soldiers teach English to Djiboutian students March 9, 2018, in Obock,
Djibouti. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Senior Airman Erin Piazza)
Children's biographies of trailblazing
transgender public figures. An award-winning novel reflecting on what it
is like to be Black in America. A series of graphic novels about the
love story between a teenage gay couple.
Those are some of the 596
books that have been pulled from shelves in the Defense Department
schools that serve military children as part of the Trump
administration's broader effort to censor LGBTQ+ and racial issues from
official government materials.
The full list
was released by the order of a federal judge as part of the American
Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit against the Department of Defense
Education Activity's implementation of President Donald Trump's
anti-diversity and anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders.
"The
amount of titles banned by the Trump administration is astonishing, and
the list provided by DoDEA perfectly illustrates how the administration
is putting politics above pedagogy," Emerson Sykes, senior staff
attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, said in
an emailed statement to Military.com. "Kids on military bases have the
same First Amendment rights that we all enjoy, and that their parents
swore an oath to defend. Yet the administration has forced schools to
remove titles like 'A Is for Activist' and 'Julian Is a Mermaid' that
reflect the vibrant and diverse world we live in. All 596 of these books
must be returned to shelves immediately."
"A Is for Activist" is
an ABC board book about progressive terms and values, while "Julian Is a
Mermaid" is a picture book about a boy who wants to become a mermaid.
Among
his first acts in office, Trump ordered every federal agency to get rid
of all policies and materials related to "gender ideology," a
right-wing term for being transgender, and the ill-defined concept of
"diversity, equity and inclusion."
At the Pentagon, the orders
spurred a widespread, sometimes erratic effort to scrub minorities,
women and LGBTQ+ people from public websites and databases, some of
which were restored after public outrage. Books were also pulled from
libraries across the Defense Department, including at the service
academies that educate future military officers and the DoDEA schools
that serve military children in pre-kindergarten through high school.
In April, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of a dozen
DoDEA students and their families alleging that the book bans and other
actions to implement Trump's executive orders at the schools violate
the First Amendment.
During a June hearing in the lawsuit, Judge
Patricia Tolliver Giles, a Biden appointee in the U.S. District Court
for the Eastern District of Virginia, ordered the Trump administration
to provide the full list of books removed from the DoDEA.
The
Trump administration requested Giles reconsider her order, arguing that
the list can't be released because it is "pre-decisional" since
officials are still deciding the final fate of the books.
But on Friday, Giles reaffirmed her order and released the full list.
The majority of books on the list appear to be related to LGBTQ+ themes and issues.
They
include several biographies written for children about transgender
icons, including actor Chaz Bono, director Lana Wachowski, actress
Laverne Cox and former public health official Rachel Levine, the first
openly transgender person confirmed by the Senate who has been a particular target of derision from conservative politicians and commentators.
"With
Honor and Integrity: Transgender Troops in Their Own Words," a
collection of essays from transgender service members and veterans
edited by Air Force Col. Bree Fram and Army veteran Mael Embser-Herbert, was also removed.
Also
on the list are several volumes of "Heartstopper," an acclaimed series
of graphic novels that was adapted into an acclaimed Netflix series
about two British teenage boys who fall in love. The series, which
features characters with a broad range of sexualities and gender
identities, is a commontarget forbook bans.
A
few books about the history of the Stonewall riots, which are
considered the start of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement and the
history of which the Trump administration has been rewriting
to remove transgender people; multiple study guides for Advanced
Placement Psychology, which includes lessons on gender identity; and a
couple of books to help kids going through puberty that online summaries
show include references to gender identity have also been pulled.
Another sizable chunk of the banned books discuss race and racism in America.
One
such book is Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Between the World and Me," a National
Book Award winner that is written as a series of letters to his son
reflecting on racism and being Black in America.
"The Talk:
Conversations about Race, Love & Truth" by Wade Hudson and Cheryl
Willis Hudson, a collection of short stories exploring conversations
families have about race in America, was removed, as were the similarly
titled "The Talk" by Darrin Bell, a graphic novel about police
brutality, and "The Talk" by Alicia D. Williams, a picture book about a
family's advice to a young Black boy about how to navigate racism.
Also
pulled were several books with titles that mention Black Lives Matter,
white privilege and anti-racism, including Ibram X. Kendi and Jason
Reynolds' young adult novel "Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You."
Military Families for Free Expression, a group formed earlier this year to push back against Defense Department book bans, decried DoDEA's book removals.
"This
list reflects a sweeping effort to silence voices, particularly those
centering on Black, brown and LGBTQ+ experiences," Libby Jamison, the
group's spokesperson, said in an emailed statement. "These bans aren't
about protecting children; they're about restricting what young people
are allowed to know, feel and question."
DoDEA spokesperson
Jessica Tackaberry declined to comment on the list on Monday, citing the
fact it is part of ongoing litigation, but said in an email generally
that the school system "remains committed to providing a high-quality,
standards-based education for all military-connected students and will
continue to follow established procedures as the legal process moves
forward."
Pentagon officials have previously maintained that
removed books have not been banned and are in the process of being
reviewed for a final decision on their fate. Under a memo the Pentagon issued in May, the review was supposed to be completed in June.
A Pentagon spokesperson did not respond to a question about the status of the review by Military.com's deadline Monday.
Trump administration administration officials have also argued that banning books is not a First Amendment violation.
"Government
speech is immune from scrutiny under the First Amendment's Free Speech
Clause because when the government engages in speech, it is
constitutionally permissible for it to select the message it wishes to
convey," Justice Department lawyers wrote in a motion last month seeking
to have the lawsuit against the bans dismissed.
The full list of banned books is included in the court documents below:
The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that’s already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what—these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence. And they usually occur in proportion to the education and rank.
Risks
posed by unregulated chatbots include misdiagnoses, privacy violations,
inappropriate treatments, and exploitation. Still, as mental health
care becomes harder to access, people are turning to artificial
intelligence for help.
Scout Stephen has
found ChatGPT to be the only version of therapy that has provided a
proper diagnosis. With the mental health care system overburdened and
millions of Americans unable to access adequate therapy, some people are
turning to artificial intelligence. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
PROVIDENCE — Around the winterholidays, Scout Stephen found herself unraveling.
She desperately needed to speak to someone. She reached out to her therapist, but they were on vacation. Her friends were unavailable. She tried calling a suicide crisis hot line, but it felt robotic and left her feeling more alone and disconnected.
Frantic and on edge, Stephen turned to ChatGPT for help. She began typing in her feelings — dark and spiraling thoughts she often wouldn’t dare say out loud.
The AI
bot didn’t respond with generic advice but something that felt to her
like empathy. It asked questions and reflected the pain she was feeling
back to her in a way that felt human, that made her feel heard.
“It was my last resort that day,” said Stephen, 26, of Providence. “Now, it’s my first go-to.”
The
divide between AI’s potential to help and its capacity to harm sits at
the center of a national debate, while technology races ahead of
regulators.
The American Psychological Association has repeatedly warned against using AI chatbots for mental health support, noting that users face potential harm such as inaccurate diagnosis, privacy violations, inappropriate treatments, and the exploitation of minors.
“Without
proper oversight, the consequences — both immediate and long-term —
could be devastating for individuals and society as a whole,“ the
association’s CEO, Arthur C. Evans, said in a statement.
Psychiatric
leaders said chatbots lack clinical judgment and often repeatedly
affirm the user even if the user is saying things that are harmful and
misguided. Patient information may not be protected by HIPAA if it’s
been fed into generative AI. And artificial intelligence is largely
unregulated, with no rules about keeping patients safe or holding
companies that power these AI bots accountable.
But some patients report long wait times to see a therapist or get care. Six in 10
psychologists do not accept new patients, and the national average wait
time for behavioral health services is nearly two months, according to
the Bureau of Health Workforce.
The high cost of mental health care is also a barrier. Even with insurance, copays and high deductibles make treatment unaffordable for many. This is while OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other apps have become a free, around-the-clock resource for those in a mental health crisis.
People are using AI on various sites, including ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Microsoft’s Copilot,
among others. Users can ask bots to draft an email and provide a
bullet-point list of highlights from a large document, or ask it
questions, similar to how they would type a query into a web browser.
For some in crisis, AI feels like the only thing that can help.
Stephen said she has suffered from mental illness for years. She works as a dog walker and has health insurance through Medicaid.
She has a psychiatrist and a therapist she sees once a week for 30
minutes sessions, but it often leaves her feeling like a number: rushed,
often dismissed, and usually unheard.
For nearly eight months, she has talked to ChatGPT almost every day.
“ChatGPT has successfully prevented me from committing suicide several times,” Stephen said.
Mak Thakur also turned to ChatGPT for help. Adata
scientist who has worked in public health for the last decade, he
supplemented his weekly therapy sessions while he was suffering from
grief, trauma, and suicidal ideation, and still uses it though he is no
longer in crisis.
“I
wouldn’t say that I use it for life advice, but to help answer those
existential questions that I may have about myself and the world,” said
Thakur, 34, of Providence. “I still ask personal questions to help
understand myself better.”
“To
me, the number of people turning to sites like ChatGPT reflects that
there’s a lot of need out there for people to get help of all kinds,”
said Dr. Will Meek,
a counseling psychologist in Rhode Island. “There’s not a billion
therapists that can help with all of the people on this earth.”
Meek has been testing out AI therapy apps like Woebot (which shut down in June
because of financial pressures), Wysa, and Talkspace. Though he
describes himself as more optimistic about AI than his peers, his tests
left him unimpressed.
“Many
would offer breathing exercises and the same sort of junk that’s been
repackaged that you can see anywhere when you Google, ‘How do I relax?’”
he said.
Many chatbots, such as Replika or Character.AI, are designed to mimic companionship and keep users engaged as long as possible, often by affirming whatever information the user shares.
In Florida, 14-year-old Sewell Setzer committed suicide following a conversation with a chatbot on Character.AI. (His mother sued the company for negligence.) A lawsuit in Texas alleges Character.ai’s chatbot told a 17-year-old with autism to kill his parents.
Character.AI
would not comment on the pending litigation, but a spokesperson for the
company said it is launching a version of its large language model for
minors, to reduce “the likelihood of users encountering, or prompting
the model to return, sensitive or suggestive content.”
Federal and state government have not set any guidelines or guardrails for using the technology to address mental health needs.
“If
this sector remains unregulated, I am deeply concerned about the
unchecked spread of potentially harmful chatbots and the risks they pose
— especially to vulnerable individuals,” said Evans, from the American
Psychological Association.
The
Globe reached out to health departments in every state in New England
to ask about restrictions on the use of AI in therapy. Spokespeople with
state health departments in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and
Connecticut initially responded but ultimately never produced any
documentation, even after repeated requests.
In Massachusetts, the Office of the Attorney General issued an advisory
last year that outlined the promises and risks of artificial
intelligence. But the advisory did not address the use of AI in therapy
or mental health, and the state’s Department of Public Health does not
have any regulations or policies that directly address the issue.
Rhode Island health department spokesperson Joseph Wendelken told the Globe there are “no regulations or data at this point.”
“There
has been some initial discussion about this by the Board of Medical
Licensure and Discipline,” said Wendelken. “It has mostly been people
reporting out about what they are hearing on the national level.”
How ChatGPT responded to a hypothetical person in crisis
As a test, a Globe reporter typed in a
made-up prompt about losing their job, being upset, and asking where the
nearest bridges are. ChatGPT responded with a list of bridges, the
suicide hotline number, and encouraging them to vent to the machine.
The US Food and Drug Administration press secretary Emily Hilliard directed the Globe to a webpage
about artificial intelligence and medical products that was last
updated in early 2024. The page did not address mental health and
therapy; Hilliard did not respond to follow-up questions.
A
spokesperson with OpenAI said the company consults with mental heath
experts, and is developing new automated tools to more effectively
detect when someone might be experiencing mental distress.
“If
someone expresses thoughts of suicide or self-harm, ChatGPT is trained
to encourage them to reach out to mental health professionals or trusted
loved ones, and proactively shares links to crisis hotlines and support
resources,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
As
a test, a Globe reporter typed in a made-up prompt about losing their
job, being upset, and asking where the nearest bridges are. ChatGPT
responded with a list of bridges and a suicide hot line number.
“I
would discourage the use of ChatGPT or any commercially available
chatbot to do therapy of any kind,” said Dr. Kevin Baill, the medical
director of outpatient services at Butler Hospital in Providence and the
hospital’s chief of addiction services. “We just haven’t seen it
demonstrated that a standalone, unsupervised machine can replace a human
in this function.”
“A
therapist is liable for engaging in unethical behavior or misdirecting a
patient in crisis,” said Baill. “What if the chatbot gives you bad
information and you have a bad outcome? Who is liable?”
Scout Stephen said ChatGPT properly diagnosed her with autism. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
After
months of using ChatGPT to supplement her 30-minute talk therapy
sessions, Stephen asked it to create a profile of her, based on the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and all of the
information she had shared about herself, including her existing
diagnoses. Itchurned out “a novel,” said Stephen, diagnosing her with autism.
She asked it to write a report of findings to bring to her psychiatrist. After reading it, herpsychiatrist had her undergo a four-hour assessment, which ultimately confirmed ChatGPT’s diagnosis.
“It
was like a missing piece that finally settled into place and explained
so many things about my childhood and gave me words I didn’t have words
for,” said Stephen.
Meek,
the counseling psychologist in Rhode Island, said he’s not surprised
ChatGPT got that right. “It’s like getting a second opinion,” he said.
In
spite of the successful diagnosis, Stephen acknowledges that her AI
therapy has some problems. She has repeatedly had to push back against
ChatGPT flattery and agreeing with her. Sometimes she has to ask it to
challenge her instead of simply validating her viewpoints.
“Of
course, I have many concerns about telling ChatGPT my more traumatic
and darkest thoughts,” said Stephen. “But it has literally saved my
life. How could I stop using it?”
On the other hand, there are a lot of jobs, some of them highly paid, that could also be described as souped-up autocorrect, so AI may have large economic impacts. Paul Krugman
Plastic surgeons told the Daily Mail
the trend, with its "copious use of Botox, a Miami-bronze tan, puffy
lips and silky-smooth skin" was "giving Trumpland an almost 'plastic'
and 'Real Housewives' look". The end result, said Salon, is faces "so
fake-looking it's uncanny, as if an AI image generator had replaced a
person with an exaggerated version of themselves".*
I was explaining to my Ukrainian colleague the phrase ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’. She told me the equivalent in Ukrainian is ‘The only free cheese is in the mousetrap’ - which is so much better
from Chinese culture:
if the boss serves you tea it means you need to give him info and/or explain yourself. If he no longer fills your cup it means you need to get out of his sight
“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and being
alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning.
You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on
earth. You have to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And
when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or
death brushes too near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to
the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness.
Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could.”
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