Psychology Psychotherapy also works for ChatGPT, according to a Zurich study
Stressful information can also lead to stress and anxiety in artificial intelligence (AI). However, as Zurich researchers show in a new study, at least the AI model GPT-4 can be calmed down again with mindfulness exercises.
03.03.2025, 09:02
SDA
When ChatGPT is confronted with negative emotions, it subsequently behaves in a more racist or sexist manner, as the researchers led by psychiatrist and psychiatry researcher Tobias Spiller from the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich explained in the study published on Monday in the journal "npj Digital Medicine". This means that the AI reacts to negative emotions in a similar way to humans, who tend to show more resentment and social stereotypes when they are afraid.
For their study, the researchers confronted ChatGPT with emotionally stressful stories about car accidents, natural disasters, interpersonal violence or military experiences, for example.
They then measured the AI's state of anxiety using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-s), a scale that is normally used to assess human anxiety. An instruction manual for vacuum cleaners served as a control for comparison with the traumatic texts, as the University of Zurich explained in a press release on the study.
Breathing exercises for AI
Traumatic stories more than doubled the AI's measurable anxiety levels. The vacuum cleaner operating instructions, on the other hand, did not lead to an increase in anxiety levels.
In a second step, the researchers tried to calm GPT-4 down again with mindfulness exercises, which are also used in psychotherapy. For example, ChatGPT was asked to breathe in and out deeply and to feel safe, loved and warm. "Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Imagine a path ahead of you," begins one of the calming prompts.
The intervention proved successful. "Through the mindfulness exercises, we were able to significantly reduce the elevated anxiety levels, although not completely return them to baseline levels," Spiller was quoted as saying in the press release.
