Technology

Think about the people you willingly surround yourself with. Then think about how often they agree with the things you think and say.

As the saying goes "I'm sure there's someone out there who believes the exact opposite of everything I believe, and while I'm sure they aren't a complete idiot..."

Everyone is susceptible to the feedback loop. Everyone can fall victim to the seduction of an echo chamber. While not everyone would ignore the red flag that this thing is a machine/digital algorithm rather than a person or sentient/sapient being, it's not really that hard to see how we got here. Echo chambers exist all over the internet. The difference is that most of them have some voices of dissent. The AI LLM doesn't offer that. They keep trying to add it in but it's basically antithetical to the design.

When you add that to the fact that making it addictive benefits their bottom line is pretty obvious that they are trying to walk the line between being regulated by the government and making their product as popular as possible.

I don't think they really knew it would have this exact effect. But I do think they plan to take advantage of it now that they know and I don't think we humans are all going to be able to fight the temptation of an automated propaganda machine.

This is especially because mental health and healthcare in this country has been failing for decades, and even people who "don't have mental health problems" aren't magically mentally healthy, they just don't know the status of their mental health. A whole lot of people in the US especially are mentally ill or facing neurological medical problems that they don't know about.