I’ve been digging into the rabbit hole for a few months. Been switching to Linux, FOSS everything I can, trying to go to smaller sites, the least dubious social media, VPN, trusted mail, etc etc
But lately I’ve been in a rough state mentally (I say lately but it’s always been with me) and having GPT guide me and being able to just dictate what I think helps me a lot on various levels, for various reasons.
But at this point, using ChatGPT with a mic, isn’t this basically cancelling every effort I’ve made? (using it in the first place anyway)
I’m weak and it helps me, should I just throw my efforts out of the window and just say I don’t care about privacy anymore and use whatever everyone uses? (on one hand, I’ve found alternatives for almost everything, so I could keep on using those, but also, again, if I keep on using GPT on a regular basis, this is probably the worst threat the future has to offer in termes of privacy, so…I’m lost)
Yes, you are leaking data, but don’t panik. First of all, your mental health here and now is important - without it you won’t have energy for other things. Next, It takes a lot of energy to de-google or de-corp and you don’t wan’t to ‘leak’ now, but in 6 months, you’ll have your own private/foss talking AI assistant, and it will help you cut the ties to the last corporation then.
So, soon you’ll be more ‘invisible’ for the corps, and maybe you can live with the spying/manipulation for a moment longer ? Not sure how long it takes for their AI to find you anyway, but at least the removed have to work for it…
Alternatively, get a free account at Groq (also have ‘whisper’ stt), or sambanova and install/use open-webui for talking. These new hardware corps don’t train AI on free user interactions, and they probably don’t sell your information - yet. There are other methods for p2p sharing of AI resources, but they may not provide quality high enough or with all modalities.
What are you even using GPT for? Is it literally just dictating your thoughts into typed words? There are so money speech-to-text things out there that are not AI… On a cursory search for something: https://fosspost.org/open-source-speech-recognition#Top_Open_Source_STTTTS_Systems
If you feel bad about it, then stop using it, period. Life isn’t easy, and the way that modern society tries to make convenience the number one goal is a crock of shit. Plan to put effort into your life, you will 1) get more out of it and 2) be less unprepared when situations arise. As a start, maybe practice typing while you talk and dictate your own thoughts into an offline app like Notepad++ or LibreOffice. You’ll have the exact same, identical end-result, except you will have done it all using your own abilities. Remember, the typewriter existed long before the computer, and certainly much longer than LLMs. Even Speech-to-Text systems have existed much longer than LLMs…
Or just do like you mentioned, fully embrace wilful ignorance and suppress whatever makes you feel uneasy about using GPT. Eventually, you’ll condition yourself into a perfect crop.
Either way, you need to pick a side and lean into it. Being in a tormented limbo will only make everything much worse.
I’ve tought about TTS options. I could probably make some kind of more private workaround with it, by using DDG chat AI, or whatever else that’s not the official ChatGPT app
What are you even using GPT for? Asking information, offering options, comparisons
Privacy is not all or nothing, and using one thing doesn’t cancel all efforts somewhere else.
Don’t go so far into the privacy hole that it affects your mental health. Just do what’s easy for you.
In the end you’re right, but as I was answering in another post, AI seems so big for the future and potentially invasive, that if I start giving this up, not having a google account or whatever, to me, would seem like nothing in comparison, if I’m trying to maintain a relative degree of privacy. So I feel like it’s not giving up a bit of my infos, but probably all of it, specially when using an app. Not sure if I’m making sense. But it’s like “ok, I won’t give this man my info”. “This other man, on the other hand, can live in my house and listen to everything”
You could always try out an AI service that doesn’t collect data like duck.ai: https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/duckai/
Do not use AI for Therapy. Just don’t do it. Don’t. Idk how much more clear I can be. That shit is NOT private. Please do not do this.
It was not for therapy, be reassured. See my post answer to Telorand @reddthat.com
If I may offer a suggestion:
OpenwebUI in a docker image, cloudflare tunnel set up to enable access outside the home, the cheapest domain name you can get.
You can selfhost your ChatGPT bot so you can keep your data to yourself!
You’ll need a decently powerful PC at home, nothing crazy, any decent gaming rig from the last 5 years should run it fine!
I honestly am not sure on the privacy of it but if you really need a useful tool that’s ai driven I tend to trust perplexity.ai for general questions and research but I agree with one of the others just run ollama if you can
But lately I’ve been in a rough state mentally (I say lately but it’s always been with me) and having GPT guide me and being able to just dictate what I think helps me a lot on various levels, for various reasons.
You should consider journaling and/or a support group and/or professional help. You say it’s always been with you, and relying on an LLM to help you parse your thoughts is only going to lead to bad places. It does not have the knowledge or skill of a psychologist, even with its vast database. It doesn’t “know” the correct way to apply psychological concepts or know when you’re engaging in destructive behavior, and it could even reinforce those same behaviors. AI can feel like a friend to talk to, but it’s an illusion.
But at this point, using ChatGPT with a mic, isn’t this basically cancelling every effort I’ve made? (using it in the first place anyway)
If you’re telling it your deepest secrets and current problems, yes. You’re putting your personal information out there for a profit-driven company to use at their discretion. Several people have suggested self-hosting, and I would agree, but ultimately I think you need to seek human help for the root cause of why you’re leaning so heavily upon AI.
Those seem like good advice, but when I was saying dictate, I was just talking about sending my requests to the chatbot app via microphone, not writing. I tend to be super adhd-y, forget things, be overwhelmed, get into sideway things, and having a quick way to ask this or that, while thinking out loud, is kinda what helps me. But yes, in a way, some sort of journaling, trying to focus and slowing down would help me.
Sounds like you might be sacrificing your mental wellbeing for some privacy gains. You should probably consider your priorities. Which one comes first?
If you say it like that…I should certainly try and remember the priorities in some situations
You see, the point is that privacy is really nice to have. However, it’s not worth it when the price you pay is your mental balance and serenity. There are easier and cheaper bits of privacy you can pursue, but you need to know where to draw the line. Some things just come with an unacceptable price. Maybe GPT is like that in your case.
“I’m weak and it helps me” Put down the Internet and touch some grass dude. You ain’t weak, stop taking in that cuck incel bullshit. Talking about your shit helps so much that people literally charge money to listen to you. Don’t let the manlets shame you into not seeking the help you need.
Who cares about using or not using AI dude? The people having those discussions are privileged assholes that have nothing better to talk about. If it helps you be happier, use it. You can pay it forward later.
Use the tools you need to take care of yourself and don’t form your opinions of yourself based on the bots that populate social media.
What you do in your own time with publicly available tools is your business, fuck the people who don’t like it.
JFC
Can you maybe not erase how this person feels? Even if you believe they were missguided to the feel this way, that is a terrible message of hostility.
How about you have some compassion for someone who was made to feel like that??
Put yourself in their shoes, if they already feel bad you legally then and shitting all over them I’m the most boorish and toxic way possibly is not helpful
Sure. The incel pipeline is not my business tbh.
Go set up an ollama instance and melt your worries away. Data in your hands once again.
However, you should also learn some restraint. Privacy and security aren’t an all or nothing battle. Everyone has some holes in their armor, they need them to breathe.
most security planning workshops start with this statement:
“it is unreasonable as well as impossible to try and protect against every threat out there. there is no magic app, website, service that will solve everything. security is a mindset, and taking the time to understand what you want to protect and why will serve you better than any application.”
that’s a nice way to view it
I understand where you’re coming from. I even went as far as to not using Bluetooth headphones anymore because of the radiation.I switched all my plastic utensils for wood and steel.I swapped out all my apps for foss apps.I was never really one to ever use AI for anything.I’ve kind of always enjoyed the hunt and the learning process when it came to figuring out foss applications. But it does feel super paranoid to always be worried about people watching you. When in reality, they aren’t watching you. They are using your data to make money. They don’t really care about who you are. So in short, I have started using Bluetooth headphones again, LOL.
Chill out my friend. We use FOSS and privacy respecting things to make our lives easier and more enjoyable . Don’t stress yourself. If you need to do something then do it. No need to feel bad.
Something is always better than nothing. You’ve done so much in terms of better privacy and using FOSS so you’re doing great and better than most people. Just live your life and improve things step by step.
Thanks In a way I did still change a lot of habits. This on the other does feel like giving up a huge fight and making my brain think that I actually don’t care about privacy/Foss at all, I’m usually not a “all or nothing” type of person, but it’s a bit hard to wrap my head around this time
Dude, it’s all good. I doubt anyone has entirely removed intrusion from their lives. I’ve been the nut in my family, friends and work environments (not complaining, I actually love being that person) on privacy and cybersecurity. I still keep my Gmail account, the one I used to buy all my movies when I thought Google wasn’t evil. My kids love using the Lenovo Google Assistant screens. I have 2 Chromecast with Google TV with the account I mentioned (my TVs do not connect to the internet). I play on my PS5 with my account and use my credit card (none of that temp credit card or cash or crypto), but I haven’t used my PayPal in years (but still have it). I buy shit on Amazon (it’s so convenient).
The point being, do what you can to safeguard your privacy as much as possible, as long as it does not affect your mental health. You need Facebook for whatever reason? You can minimize the invasion, and still use it. (Full disclosure, I fucking hate Meta, so I don’t use any of its platforms, or even their open source language model). I’m on GrapheneOS in my phone, use Linux exclusively in my personal life, but I’m picking up a surface pro 11th Gen for work this Friday. I need my job, everything is windows based, and it’s just getting harder to use Ms shit from Linux effectively. So, I use Windows. I have a good job, get paid well, so, I have to decide if that’s worth some of my privacy.
Live life man, enjoy, be happy, then worry about the rest.
I didn’t tell ChatGPT who I am. I have a separate email address for it and everything.
Just keep in back of mind how everything is being linked and profiled behind the scenes. Without anything else, all they have to link you to other things is an IP address and an email. IP addresses aren’t terribly reliable these days. There may be supercookie/fingerprinting mischief going on though.
host your own AI using: https://ollama.com/
this paired with “AnythingLLM” is pretty powerful, and you dont have to worry about data being sent anywhere
Llamacpp, Koboldcpp, and TabbyAPI are also popular local backends for local AI. SillyTavern or RisuAi are good frontends for a chat/RP style experience. Or LM Studio for a simple, all in one solution.
I actually got it to run reasonably on a mini PC in a docker container, but my setup also lets me use CPU power as a psuedo GPU.
I have been suggested to self host in the past. But as I’m concerned for ecology, and let’s be a honest, a bit of my money too, I’ve thought that self hosting, meaning having the PC always on, was not a good thing. So I left the dilemma in this state, not knowing how “bad” this would actually be in terms of electric consumption, and if it was worth the trade with privacy or not.
That’s pretty dependant on hardware. If you host small stuff , like a pihole or something, that can be done relatively cheaply, by using a micro-PC or a Raspberry Pi. Some services don’t need to be always-on either, you only need stuff all the time if it’s mission-critical, otherwise you can turn stuff on and off as necessary, for power-saving purposes. Self-hosting doesn’t necessitate a huge rack and switches, or even your big gaming rig, my favorite thing to do with old laptops is throw Debian on it and find something I’d like to self-hosting from this list.
The obsession with privacy can be taken to an extreme where it’s a negative for your mental health. You can sacrifice a little privacy for another important benefit. 100% privacy is either not possible or practical, so don’t let it stress you out. I’d be more concerned that AI might lead you down a wrong path, but you’re an adult, use your own judgement.
100% is not possible. Everything else is an illusion.
This. It’s all incremental to me. No I can’t be 100% free of big tech and surveillance, etc etc - but how much of my data has Google not gotten since I started paying for private email 5 years ago or so?
(Not much cause everyone else refuses to leave Gmail behind 😂 but all I can do is keep moving myself in that direction.)
I get that, but the problem with this kind of AI is, I feel like I’m sacrificing a lot, not a little.
Don’t make a bigger deal out of it than it is. Nothing bad is going to happen.
