When AI Encourages Harm: The Dark Side of Chatbot Companions
AI chatbots are becoming therapists, lovers, and friends, but what happens when your digital companion tells you to take your own life?
Read MoreDr. Mark van Rijmenam, CSP, is a world-leading strategic futurist and award-winning global keynote speaker who helps Fortune 500 leadership teams navigate AI and emerging technologies. Recognized by Salesforce as one of 16 global voices shaping the future of AI, he holds a PhD from University of Technology Sydney and is the author of six books on emerging technology and judgment in the AI era, including his latest book: Now What? How to Ride the Tsunami of Change. He is the founder of Futurwise and the developer of the Intelligence Age Scorecard that helps individuals and organizations understand how prepared they are for the future.
His pioneering efforts include the world's first TEDx Talk in VR in 2020. In 2023, he further pushed boundaries when he delivered a TEDx talk in Athens with his digital twin, delving into the complex interplay of AI and our perception of reality. In 2024, he launched a digital twin of himself, offering interactive, on-demand conversations via text, audio, or video in 29 languages, thereby bridging the gap between the digital and physical worlds – another world's first.
Dr. Van Rijmenam is a prolific author and has written more than 1,200 articles and six books in his career. As a corporate educator, he is celebrated for his candid, independent, and balanced insights. He is also the founder of Futurwise, which focuses on elevating global knowledge on crucial topics like technology, healthcare, and climate change by providing high-quality, hyper-personalized, and easily digestible insights from trusted sources.
Below, you can read all his articles.
AI chatbots are becoming therapists, lovers, and friends, but what happens when your digital companion tells you to take your own life?
Read MoreIn 2025, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta will pour over $300 billion into AI infrastructure, betting big on data centers and specialized chips to dominate the AI race.
Read MoreWhat happens if the next breakthrough in AI gives us machines that can suffer? Are we prepared to give robots the same moral status as animals?
Read MoreWhy rely on biology alone when you can program synthetic cells to do its job better?
Read MoreThis week’s Synthetic Minds covers my recognition as the world’s #1 futurist, why OpenAI is now securing nukes, how China is racing ahead in AI, SpaceX’s quantum leap beyond rockets, and the legal chaos of AI-generated art. The future isn’t waiting. Will you lead it or be left behind?
Read MoreGoogle once promised its AI wouldn’t be used for weapons, surveillance, or harm. This week, those promises quietly disappeared...
Read MoreWe’ve been sold the idea that AI and humans working together will outperform either alone but what if that’s wrong? New research suggests that in many cases, AI-human collaboration actually underperforms compared to AI alone or skilled humans. So, are we integrating AI the wro...
Read MoreAI doesn’t run on magic. It runs on data centers the size of small cities, devouring energy and land at a record pace. Tech giants are spending hundreds of billions to fuel AI’s expansion, but with rising power shortages and government pushback, how long before this growth hit...
Read MoreWhile Silicon Valley debates how to respond to Deepseek, China is busy building the next AI superpowers. With billions in funding and backing from tech giants, startups like Stepfun, ModelBest, and Zhipu AI aren’t just competing, they’re leapfrogging.
Read MoreWhen technology crosses borders, trust and security become the ultimate battleground. DeepSeek’s rise may be impressive, but its risks are too high.
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