Chat About Chat • What are ways we can begin to use AI to enhance our ability to empathize with others?

Better understand your relationships and conversations through perspective-shifting sessions with an AI chatbot.

Chat About Chat is an empathy exploration of how we might be able to consider patterns in our social interactions that may not have been obvious to us before.

By using AI to examine our text conversations, we can find provocations that activate our wonder. It’s not about being given answers, but rather finding new perspectives.

How does it work?

Copy and paste a chunk of a text conversation with a friend and use AI to explore the social dynamics of the conversation. It’s not about AI giving you definitive answers, but instead deepening your empathy for your friend through a back and forth interaction with the AI.

The activity

Step 1. Choose a conversation.
Pick a message thread with a friend or close contact. This could be from:

  • WhatsApp or text messages
  • Email
  • A Zoom transcript

Step 2. Feed it to an AI chatbot.
Copy and paste a substantial portion of the thread into a chatbot like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.

Step 3. Explore the social dynamics.
 Ask the AI questions such as:

  • What are the social dynamics between ___ and ___?
  • What emotions seem to be present in this exchange?
  • Where are there moments of connection or misunderstanding?
  • Or any other questions that come to mind!

Step 4. Read the AI’s response—then reflect.
Pay attention to how you react to the AI’s output.

  • What thoughts or feelings come up?
  • What surprised you?
  • What are you curious to explore further?
  • Where do you disagree with the AI’s take?

This is not about AI giving you the answer. And sometimes, the AI’s analysis might be off, even way off. It’s more about creating something to react to, similar to how reactions to prototypes can advance our thinking.

Step 5. Reflect 

Reflect on your overall experience in this activity by jotting down a few notes or recording a voice memo. What stuck out to you? What surprised you? 

A note from the creator . . .

"In 2023, I was trying to figure out a simple activity that anyone could do to experiment with how AI could be used to help people look at their interactions with others differently. With others, I found out you could do fun things with Zoom transcripts, but not everyone has easy access to those, plus most of those are more work-y. What's a text source that captures our interactions with our friends? Text messages, duh!"—Glenn

 

 

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Creator
Glenn Fajardo Lecturer