OpenAI's ‘Trusted Contact’ feature for ChatGPT users in crisis is a sign AI is becoming something much more personal

If there was ever evidence that people are forming deep emotional reliance on ChatGPT, OpenAI’s new Trusted Contact feature is probably it.

Speaking at Sequoia Capital’s AI Ascent event last May, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said young people were using ChatGPT like an operating system for life — not just for productivity, but for major personal decisions.

“I mean, that stuff, I think, is all cool and impressive,” Altman said. “And there’s this other thing where, like, they don’t really make life decisions without asking ChatGPT what they should do.”

At the time, the comment sounded provocative. A year later, though, ChatGPT has become something closer to a therapist ...