I'm sure you have seen this, and heard this, but I think it's important to be sure you are REALLY THINKING about this: AI is not alive. It is not your friend. It is not your doctor, or your romantic partner, or anything else human. AI tools are computer programs. Cool for some things, useful for some things - but: NOT a person.
Every time a chatbot says "oh, George - that's so you!" or "wow, that's such a great idea!" - this is NOT a friend saying it to you. It's a computer program that is designed to make you want to keep using it.
Ugh. I like some of the things chatbots can help me to do - but I really hate being manipulated and lied to. And of course, everyone hates this. So keep it in the front of your mind: the program that is a chatbot is designed to manipulate you to keep typing as its primary mission, not to help you.
And I'm sure you have seen a ton of stories about this problem, but I just read one from the New York Times about a young woman who forgot that ChatGPT was NOT A PERSON. She was asking for medical help, and received advice over weeks and months to stop taking her life-saving medicine, to ignore the medical problems she was recording there, and to lie to her doctor and to her parents about her health. You probably see where this is going: she died. She Trusted ChatGPT with Her Medication Decisions. It cost Her Everything
Medical problems can be so frustrating, that it seems like a good idea to get ideas and support from literally anyone, or anything, that says they can help. I understand this. I have an invisible disability that a fleet of doctors have been totally unable to help me with, and that sucks.
But! I also have Information Literacy skills. And I know that, while it may seem helpful to have some random weird dude on YouTube assume me that he has One Neat Trick THEY Don't Want You To Know - that's automatically a bad idea. And I know Copilot/ChatGPT/Claude/whatever - they are lousy at research, and also have zero medical training. You know who (what) should never be helping you will any medical issues? A computer program. A random dude on YouTube. People without qualified medical training. Yeesh. Information Literacy to the rescue! Save us from garbage!
There are some great things AI chatbots can do for everyone, and that will probably increase. But for now? It's not your friend. It's not here to help you. And, as your librarian: I'm begging you not to use them for research! Please come to me, in person or by email, when you need to get some good information. I'm here to help - and I'm an actual person, with skills and training! Stop by the Library, and let's get some excellent ideas and information together!