How AI impacts people with autism spectrum disorder

Key points:

• University of South Australia and Flinders University researchers have addressed the topic of chatbots in a recent essay published in the Journal of Behavioural Addictions

• Recent survey studies have found that a social chatbot can provide feelings of companionship and decrease feelings of loneliness

• Research has revealed that people with an autism spectrum disorder may become excessively involved in online chatting and that social anxiety may contribute to problematic levels of social media use

Australian researchers have called on greater investigation on the role that artificial intelligence and social media ‘chatbots’ may have on the social communication skills of people with autism spectrum disorders.

AI-powered chatbots, such as ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4 and Snapchat’s chatbot feature could be doing more harm than good for neurodiverse people, making them feel isolated and less socially capable.

Lead researcher, UniSA Psychology Honours student Andrew Franze, called for further studies to weigh up the pros and cons of social media use on neurodiverse people to assess the potential risks of using such software.

“Young people with social deficiencies tend to gravitate towards companionship with online social chatbots in particular,” Franze said.

“They offer a safe means of rehearsing social interaction with limited or no risk of negative judgement based on appearance or communication style. However, there is a risk they can become dependent on chatbots and withdraw even further from human interactions.

Franze added that the inability of software to feel empathy or demonstrate emotional ‘soft skills’ could add to the development of dysfunctional social habits in neurodiverse people.

“Some chatbots have a generally servile quality and so there is no resistance or opposing view that characterises human conversations,” he explained.

“This means that users can control the conversation completely; they can pause it, delay it or even terminate the conversation. All of this is counterproductive to developing appropriate social skills in the real world.”

Although some outlets have suggested that artificial intelligence could be used to treat or alleviate social anxiety in people with ASD, Franze said that more input is needed from psychologists, parents and teachers.

“We need to gather evidence about the myriad of ways that these technologies can influence vulnerable users who may be particularly drawn to them,” he added.

“Only then can we develop policies and industry practices that guide the responsible and safe use of chatbots.”

The research paper, ‘Social chatbot user (e.g., ChatGPT) among individuals with social deficits: risks and opportunities,’ was authored by Andrew Franze from UniSA, along with Christina Galanis and Daniel King from Flinders University.

However, other researchers have suggested that AI could be used as an effective form of detection and diagnosis for people with ASD, as detailed in the journal Biomedicines 2023.

Both diffusion tensor imaging, a neuroimaging technique that can be used to assess the microstructure of white matter in the brain — commonly known as ‘DTI’ — and fMRI, a technique that measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow, have shown promise in the diagnosis of ASD, as they can provide insights into the neural basis of the disorder.

What do you think about the relationship between autism spectrum disorders, social media and AI? Let the team at Talking Disability know your thoughts and subscribe to the FREE weekly newsletter for more information, news and updates.

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