I asked GPT for an English translation. When making the request, I phrased it as if I were asking a human. However, GPT doesn't have emotions, so there's no real need to ask politely. From an efficiency standpoint, it takes more time and might seem redundant. But, this act of expressing "gratitude" or interacting with "respect" might be where the true strength and essence of humans, inherently weak creatures, lie. That's what I believe. Not just with GPT, but often when using wonderful technologies and services, we tend to take them for granted. In terms of technology, being excessively polite is probably redundant. Yet, could it be that these redundant acts are what make us human?
It might not be a fair comparison, but I'd like to use the automatic flush toilets as an example. Once you get used to them flushing automatically, there are times when using an old-fashioned toilet you forget to flush, standing up and realizing, "Oh, I forgot!"
As humans become accustomed to pursuing efficiency and using AI, might we forget human-like interactions, such as expressing gratitude or showing respect, when we interact with real humans? In smooth communication, forgetting to show gratitude can cause significant damage. While you can remember and flush a toilet, impoliteness in a conversation isn't something you can just "wash away".
There are concerns that relying on AI might reduce our ability to think. As of now, I haven't felt a decline in my cognitive abilities. However, I do feel that the quality, or perhaps the nature, of my thinking has evolved. Using GPT, I can be prompted to think. If I ask, "Do you have a question based on our conversation so far?", it can respond with questions that can be quite challenging. It can assist humans, but it can also put them on the spot.
What concerns me isn't a decline in cognitive abilities. It's the potential loss of what makes us human, like the act of expressing gratitude. I'm particularly concerned about this. But on reflection, it seems that opportunities to vocalize or even just feel a sense of gratitude have already decreased significantly. Those moments of quiet appreciation, when one thinks, "Ah, I'm grateful," seem to be fading. I believe such moments have a healing effect on weary souls.
Technology has rapidly advanced. However, as opportunities to immerse ourselves in gratitude decrease, I worry that humans might be becoming weaker at an equally rapid pace.
