If AI is addictive, where does the responsibility lie – Big Tech or its users?

When I talk to my son, an engineering student, and we have a question or disagreement, he immediately turns to ChatGPT as his primary source of information and reassurance.

He is not alone in this. The use of generative AI tools has exploded across diverse populations. For many people, these tools can be entertaining, informative, and useful. However, they also have a dark side.

Generative AI is not currently officially recognized as addictive – the medical evidence is still being collected. However, there is a significant amount of data showing that heavy use of chatbots and other systems that produce text, images and videos leads to neural patterns and behaviors that have been linked to addiction.

Given Meta and YouTube’s recent legal defeat in a groundbreaking social media addiction lawsuit, I think it’s time to ask whether a similar logic applies to generative AI – and what might be done about it. The starting point would be to find out who…