8bit-GPT: Exploring Human-AI Interaction on Obsolete Macintosh Operating Systems
This work addresses the issue of superficial emotional attachment and information retention for users of assistive chatbots, though it appears incremental in applying reflective design principles to AI interfaces.
The paper tackles the problem of over-reliance on efficient chatbots by introducing 8bit-GPT, a language model simulated on a legacy Macintosh OS, which resulted in evoking reflection on human-AI interaction through defamiliarization and inefficient interaction.
The proliferation of assistive chatbots offering efficient, personalized communication has driven widespread over-reliance on them for decision-making, information-seeking and everyday tasks. This dependence was found to have adverse consequences on information retention as well as lead to superficial emotional attachment. As such, this work introduces 8bit-GPT; a language model simulated on a legacy Macintosh Operating System, to evoke reflection on the nature of Human-AI interaction and the consequences of anthropomorphic rhetoric. Drawing on reflective design principles such as slow-technology and counterfunctionality, this work aims to foreground the presence of chatbots as a tool by defamiliarizing the interface and prioritizing inefficient interaction, creating a friction between the familiar and not.