I'm a psychologist and concerned about how much my clients are using chatbots at work
While proponents hail AI tools like ChatGPT as major productivity boosters, heavy usage could weaken a worker's communication skills over time, psychologist Laura Greve told Business Insider.
That would be a big problem, she said, since success in the workplace typically requires building a positive reputation and the ability to influence others, or what's known as social currency.
"Human relationships, for all their messiness, are engines of personal growth," said Greve, who's based in Boston and works with high-achievers such as C-suite executives and politicians. "Other people challenge us, surprise us, disappoint us, and inspire us in ways that force us to expand beyond our comfort zones."
To be sure, connecting with people can be tough. "To build intimacy, you have to show up and risk saying something the other person may disagree with or reveal something about you that is very personal," said Greve. "You don't always get a win."
This may explain why some workers are now turning to AI agents instead of colleagues for a helping hand. Whereas human coworkers can be snotty, moody or busy, chatbots are typically safe. They don't judge or embarrass users.
"AI, by design, tends to accommodate our existing preferences rather than challenge them," said Greve.
Greve likens AI tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude to junk food. They're efficient and satisfying in the short term, but extensive usage can lead to "relational diabetes," she said.
Long periods of frictionless interaction can stunt emotional growth and erode courage, added Greve. There's no need for problem-solving or reasoning with AI at your fingertips.
"If AI tools make us less skilled at understanding and connecting with people who think differently, we lose our capacity for the kind of dialogue that healthy societies require," she said.
Greve is particularly concerned about how AI will impact young people just entering the workforce. She hopes they'll still make an effort to build relationships with real teammates, even if they're expected to use chatbots to do their jobs.
"Think about the person you want to be at 40, 50, 60," Greve said. "In a world where everyone has access to the same AI tools, your ability to build genuine human connections, inspire trust, and work collaboratively will become your most significant professional asset."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Generative Engine Optimization, GEO, A Playbook For Online Retailers
Google's search loosing relevance for e-commerce, and Amazon's homepage is losing traffic. The future belongs to AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. For brands to stay visible, they must embrace Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) also called LLMO, or AEO. Content is still king — but the rules have changed. Yesterday, shoppers browsed; today, they ask. Instead of scrolling through endless menus or filtering product grids, consumers now turn to AI assistants — and the answers drive their purchases. A new front door to retail has opened, but it no longer belongs to the retailer or Google or Amazon. It belongs to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. And for retailers, the stakes couldn't be higher. The End Of The Homepage Just as media outlets once lost homepage traffic to Google and Facebook, retailers are now facing the same shift — only faster. Consumers aren't browsing your carefully designed website anymore; they're asking AI assistants. 'Best outdoor jacket near me' is no longer the query. Instead, someone might ask: ChatGPT responds with: Claude, meanwhile, suggests: Claude or ChatGPT have the power to say what will be found, a position formerly only Google had. It's not hard to understand why I wrote earlier this year about e-commerce unbundling. But where are Mammut, Columbia, or The North Face? These brands have quality products, yet they're absent. The reason? Training data. Models surface answers based on the content they've been exposed to. Patagonia, REI, and Helium have done a better job supplying structured, high-quality information to AI systems. If your brand isn't present in AI answers, you're effectively invisible. GEO > SEO — Generative Engine Optimization Takes Over How to get noticed in this new e-commerce order? Content, Content, Content. But, the old SEO playbook — keywords, backlinks, and blogspam — won't work. AI assistants don't crawl for short-form content. They rely on authentic, Q&A-rich, structured data that helps them understand and contextualize answers. Enter Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), also known as Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) or Large Language Model Optimization (LLMO). The rules have changed: AI-driven traffic is still small in volume—but its impact is outsized. Studies show that traffic originating from LLMs converts up to 9x better than other channels. Why? Because recommendations feel personal, contextual, and trustworthy. One example stands out: a consumer uploaded their blood results into ChatGPT and immediately purchased €200 worth of vitamins—no browsing, no comparison, pure trust. And timing matters. Soon, most large language models will introduce paid placement channels. Brands mentioned organically today will enjoy a lasting competitive advantage tomorrow. The window to secure this advantage is now. For two decades, I've built data and monitoring tools—and I've seen this movie before. In the early days of social media, brands obsessively measured mentions without asking the deeper question: what exactly should we measure? Take the jacket example again. If a user specifically asks, 'What's the lightest jacket on the market?' the answer might be the Montbell Versalite. But do users ask those hyper-specific questions. We don't know and OpenAI or Google will not tell us. The challenge for brands is therefore to predict what users will be looking for. One thing is for sure, it wont be the marketing copy the company put out. Rather one should be tapping into Just don't run and start to monitor your brand but rather try to understand the best set of questions to monitor. Training LLMs is expensive—Elon Musk recently revealed he spends $1 billion per month on training xAI. Models won't index every piece of content; they prioritize information that is authentic, novel, and trusted. Your goal isn't just to be searchable. Over are the times where 'keywords' were all you need to do. You need to the models who you are so you become part of their default answer set. The New Generative Engine Optimization Playbook for Brands Until AI assistants open up fully to paid placement, organic visibility depends on creating content designed for LLMs to learn from as I outlined in this Forbes article The homepage isn't dying — it's obsolete. The battle for discovery has shifted to AI assistants, and the winners will be the brands that learn to optimize for answers, not clicks. The future of retail belongs to those brands who have a unique story to tell. As I said more than once 'The future is Indie'. Agree? Disagree? Have a different take? I've posted the Forbes article here on LinkedIn — add your thoughts in the comments and let's discuss.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Big Short' investor Michael Burry has gone from bear to bull on stocks, portfolio gurus say
Michael Burry appears to have shifted from bearish to bullish last quarter, portfolio gurus say. The "Big Short" investor's latest update shows a wholesale swap of put options for calls. He's betting on stocks to keep rising and several companies to execute turnarounds, the gurus said. "The Big Short" made Michael Burry one of the market's most famous bears. But he seems to have warmed to stocks last quarter, three portfolio gurus told Business Insider. The investor's Scion Asset Management swapped out bearish put options on six stocks for bullish call options on nine stocks last quarter, its portfolio update from last week shows. The notional values of those positions were $186 million and $522 million, respectively. At the end of March, Burry's hedge fund held seven positions, including puts on Alibaba, and Nvidia, plus a direct stake in Estée Lauder, per its first-quarter portfolio update. Three months later, it held 15 positions, including calls and direct stakes in Estée Lauder and Lululemon, and calls on Alibaba, and VF. While these filings only capture a snapshot of Burry's US stock holdings on a single day and are published with a six-week delay, they may provide some insights into his investing strategy and market outlook. Burry bet against China-exposed tech stocks in Q1, but pivoted in Q2 Burry's first-quarter portfolio suggests he was confident that tech stocks, especially in China, would "suffer considerably going forward," Peter Mallouk, the president and CEO of Creative Planning, told Business Insider. "He clearly thought these stocks are overvalued and was expecting a correction — at least — in this group," he added. All of the stocks Burry bet against except Nvidia declined last quarter. Burry's revamped positions at the end of June "signal a very different take," Mallouk said, adding that the calls and long bets are "substantive" and indicate he's "expecting the run up to continue." "He has gone from a strong conviction bet on a sector fall to a broad-based bet the bull run will continue," Mallouk said. The benchmark S&P 500 index has surged more than 28% from its April low, and more than 3% since the end of June, to record highs of above 6,400 points. Burry didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Gerry Fowler, the head of equity derivatives at UBS, said that Burry seems to have swung from "modest bearishness to cautious bullishness." Burry's portfolio appears "opportunistic" and "contrarian," Fowler added, as he switched his short bets on China-exposed stocks such as Alibaba and to long wagers on those same names plus others that tanked in April. Fowler added that the size of Burry's long positions suggests he's not relying heavily on debt to finance them, and his call options "reflect some concern for downside risks still," because using options means tying up less capital and putting less money at risk than if he bought the underlying stocks. Burry appears to have bet on several embattled companies to stage comebacks, Daniel Bustamante, the chief investor of Bustamante Capital Management and founder of "The LongVol Report," told Business Insider. The fund manager said Estée Lauder and VF, the owner of The North Face, are "genuine turnaround plays" as the beauty giant's new CEO is working to cut costs and revitalize weak China sales, while the new bosses of VF are trying to revive its street-fashion brand Vans and cut costs too. Bustamante said he felt less positive about Burry's bullish position on athleisure brand Lululemon, which recently lost its chief product officer, Sun Choe, to VF. "Losing her is the equivalent to losing Steph Curry to another team," Bustamante said. The stock has tumbled nearly 50% this year as investors have balked at slowing growth, fierce competition, and tariffs raising its costs. Burry's use of options could result in a bigger payout By using options, Burry is "playing it in the right manner both from a risk perspective and potential return view," Bustamante said, as he stands to pocket an "asymmetric payout" if any of the ailing businesses do bounce back. Burry's iconic "Big Short" against the mid-2000s housing bubble was also asymmetric. He purchased credit-default swaps that acted as insurance against a housing crash, paid only modest premiums to hold them, then reaped huge profits when widespread mortgage defaults triggered payouts from the derivatives. Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sam Altman Is One of the Richest People in the World. It Isn't Because of OpenAI.
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." 1985–present Who Is Sam Altman? Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is one of the leading proponents of artificial intelligence in the world. Raised in St. Louis, Altman dropped out of college before founding social mapping company Loopt and launching a career as a venture capitalist. He co-founded OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, in 2015 with Elon Musk and others and became CEO in 2019. He remains in this role despite the company's decision to briefly remove him in 2023. In addition to his work in AI, Altman is a successful investor and one of the richest people in the world thanks to stakes in companies such as Reddit and Stripe. Quick Facts FULL NAME: Samuel Harris AltmanBORN: April 22, 1985BIRTHPLACE: Chicago, IllinoisSPOUSE: Oliver Mulherin (2024–present)CHILD: 1 sonASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Taurus Early Life and Family Samuel Harris Altman was born on April 22, 1985, in Chicago. He primarily grew up in St. Louis after his family moved there during his childhood. Sam's mother, Connie Gibstine, works as a dermatologist, while his father, Jerry Altman, was a real estate broker. Sam is the oldest of the couple's four children; he has two brothers, Jack and Max, and a sister, Annie. According to New York Magazine, the close-knit family ate dinner together every night and bonded through games such as table tennis, billiards, and charades. The three Altman boys also played water polo. While Connie is still a practicing doctor, Jerry died unexpectedly from a heart attack in 2018. His death deeply affected Altman. 'I had to pick up the pieces of his life for a little while,' he said in an interview on the What Now? with Trevor Noah podcast. 'And it wasn't until like a week after that, that I really got a moment to just catch my breath and be like, holy sh––, I can't believe this happened.' As adults, Jack and Max developed an entrepreneurial spirit similar to their older brother. Jack co-founded the human resources platform Lattice in 2015 and served as CEO before stepping down in 2023. According to his LinkedIn profile, he now serves as a managing partner at Alt Capital. Max is a co-founder and managing partner at the investment firm Saga Ventures. Altman is estranged from his sister, who has been candid about her mental health and financial struggles. Annie has said the family kept money left to her by her father, and she has supported herself financially through online and in-person sex work. Annie also created and hosts the All Humans Are Human podcast. In January 2025, Annie filed a lawsuit alleging Sam had sexually abused her starting when she was 3 years old. Sam released a joint statement with his mother and brothers calling the claims 'utterly untrue' and countersued his sister for defamation. Both legal proceedings are ongoing. Education Altman developed an interest in technology while in elementary school. At age 8, he received his first computer, an Apple Macintosh, and learned how to code and deconstruct its hardware. 'That was like the glory days of computing, you could immediately do whatever you wanted on the computer, and it was very easy to learn to program, and it was just crazy fun and exciting,' Altman told Stratechery. 'Eventually my parents got me a computer or got us a computer at home, and I was always a crazy nerd, like crazy nerd in like the full sense, just science and math and computers and sci-fi and all of that stuff.' That passion continued into his high school tenure at the John Burroughs School, a private college prep school in St. Louis. While there, Altman befriended a computer science teacher who shared an interest in the future of artificial intelligence. After graduating from Burroughs in 2003, Altman enrolled at Stanford University to study computer science. However, he dropped out two years later at age 19 to create Loopt, an application allowing smartphone users to share their location with friends and colleagues. Altman later said he found the risks of leaving school—and knowing he could always return—worth the potential rewards of forgoing a traditional career path. 'In what is now a very dynamic world, the risky thing is to not go try the things that might really work out,' he said. Investor Altman eventually sold Loopt to banking company Green Dot in 2012 for $43.4 million. However, that was far from his only business project. That same year, Altman used the money from the sale to launch the investment firm Hydrazine, cleverly named after the chemical used in rocket fuel, with his brother Jack. Since 2010, Altman has personally invested in 125 companies, according to The Washington Post. They include Helion Energy, a nuclear fusion researcher; Retro Biosciences, a biotechnology company specializing in cell restoration; and Cruise, a self-driving car company. In 2011, Altman became a partner at Y Combinator, a juggernaut among technology startup accelerators and venture capital firms, and was promoted to president in February 2014. YC has invested in more than 5,000 companies, with DoorDash, Airbnb, Instacart, Twitch, and Reddit among the most recognizable. By December 2015, Altman valued all YC companies at more than $65 billion. Altman eventually stepped down from his role as president in 2019 to focus on another burgeoning venture. OpenAI Co-Founder In December 2015, Altman became one of 11 co-founders of OpenAI, a nonprofit artificial intelligence research company whose goal is to 'advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.' Altman took control as CEO in 2019 after leaving YC. OpenAI is known for creating ChatGPT, a generative chatbot able to respond to written or spoken prompts and questions. As of August 2025, OpenAI has reported roughly 700 million weekly ChatGPT users and is reportedly seeking a valuation of $500 billion. Temporary Removal as CEO In November 2023, the OpenAI board announced it had fired Altman as CEO. In a news release, the company said Altman 'was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.' However, after more than 500 OpenAI employees signed an open letter threatening to leave the company and follow Altman to a new division at Microsoft, the board reached an agreement within five days of his firing for Altman to return to his leadership position. Despite the controversy, Altman has solidified his status as a leading figure in the AI space. Following the creation of ChatGPT, Time included him on its 2023 list of the 100 most influential people. That same year, he testified before U.S. Congress and urged lawmakers to create regulations for the expanding industry. Feud with Elon Musk Tesla CEO Elon Musk initially served as an OpenAI co-chair with Altman, but the pair became mired in a public rift over the latter's direction for the company. Under Altman's guidance, OpenAI began taking on investors and making money through a for-profit subsidiary—contradictory to the company's for-the-greater-good mission. Musk stepped down from the board in 2018 and later created the xAI program, a direct competitor to OpenAI. Then in 2024, Musk escalated his feud by filing two separate lawsuits against Altman and OpenAI, accusing the company of fraud, breach of contract, and reserving some of its most promising technology for private users. Musk also began derisively referring to the CEO as 'Scam Altman.' OpenAI has denied many of the claims in Musk's litigation. 'I wish he would just compete by building the better product, but I think there's been a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff,' Altman said. 'We'll try to just put our head down and keep working.' OpenAI ultimately abandoned plans to create a public benefit corporation, which would have taken control of the company away from its nonprofit branch, in 2025. Net Worth According to Forbes, Altman is one of the 2,500 richest people in the world with an estimated net worth of $1.9 billion as of August 20, 2025. Although OpenAI was valued at $157 billion as recently as November 2024, the vast majority of Altman's fortune doesn't stem from the company. He didn't take any equity upon its 2015 launch—which previously caused concern among investors over his confidence in the venture—and only makes $76,000 per year as CEO. 'If I could go back in time, I would have taken [equity], just some little bit, just to never have to answer this question,' Altman said. Instead, Altman owes much of his wealth to investments, including his stakes in Stripe, Reddit, and Helion. According to Fortune, the value of his Reddit shares alone climbed to $1.4 billion by October 2024. Husband Oliver Mulherin and Personal Life Altman married Oliver Mulherin, an Australian software engineer, in January 2024. The pair met at a party in 2015 and immediately connected despite dating other people at the time. Once Altman and Mulherin were a couple, they split their time between San Francisco and a ranch in Napa, California. Altman has spoken about their future plans, telling The San Francisco Standard they hope to build a family with multiple children. 'I am more excited for that than I think I've ever been for anything,' Altman said. 'Let's start with a few [kids] and see how it goes, but maybe a lot.' The couple welcomed their first son through a surrogate in February 2025. Coming out as gay around age 17 was an unusually anxiety-producing experience for Altman. In addition to telling his parents, he shared his sexual orientation with his classmates during a high school assembly. 'I don't really get nervous for stuff, and I was so nervous to do this. Because I was like, mostly out. Most people knew about it, but it was not the kind of school where you would really stand up and talk about being gay and that was okay,' he told Mostly Human Media. 'I got a long standing ovation out of it and, sort of all day at school that day, people telling me how much it meant to them.' Altman considered running for governor of California in 2018 but eventually declined to seek the office. He affirmed his belief in 'techno-capitalism' and has advocated for universal basic income but also described himself as 'politically homeless' in 2025. Quotes The most expensive investing mistake in the world to make is to be a pessimist, and it's a common one. I think that's actually the most common mistake to make in life. We can manage [AI], I am confident about that. But we won't successfully manage it if we're not extremely vigilant about the risks, and if we don't talk very frankly about how badly it could go wrong. We seem to be really great as a society, as individuals, as a species at dealing with change and with technological change. You know, think about how different the world was 20 years ago. We didn't all have smartphones, and that seems unimaginable now. I do think there's something freeing about getting older and caring less what people think. Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! You Might Also Like Nicole Richie's Surprising Adoption Story The Story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and Her Mother Queen Camilla's Life in Photos
