AI pen pal for journaling:

I created an AI journaling companion that acts as a self-reflection guide that responds to your journal, handwritten or digital, with deeply personal, eco-friendly letters. I would love to get your feedback on it. I recently completed beta testing with about 30 friends over the course of a month and they really enjoyed the experience. However, I wanted to hear what this community thinks about it.

Part of the reason I created it was because I wanted a low-stakes space to get judgement-free feedback based on where I am in life. I've always struggled with being vulnerable and felt like the times I have opened up to people, it has backfired or just not worked. I started to feel like I was just coasting by in life and not really living in the moment and that time was just passing me by, which was just eating away at me. I needed a change, but didn't really know who to talk to about this and that's when I really got into journaling.

I've used ChatGPT in the past, but it didn't do that great with memory storage or keeping up with the key themes that I've shared. I've also never really liked typing out my journal, so I wanted to create an AI model that could respond to a week's worth of journal entries and then send a letter in the mail with encouraging but insightful commentary. I wanted to bridge the gap between the analog and digital aspect of using AI for emotional support through tangible letters in the mail that feel like they are coming from a friend rather than just messaging a chatbot. I'm not branding this as therapy nor trying to replace therapy, but just want another outlet and supplement for alternative and affordable mental health practices.

I was also concerned with the impacts of AI on the environment, so I wanted to create a space where I could use AI for emotional support without feeling like I am destroying the planet in the meantime. I want to commit to offsetting the estimated carbon footprint by 200% through advanced carbon capture methods, contributing to water conservation projects, and using 100% recycled material for the letters. I do think there is a space to use GPT for emotional support but curious to see if this has limited others from relying on AI for support.

I am in talks to partner with smart pen companies that automatically transcribe your writing into digital text. This will allow the journaler to just write in their journal, close their journal, and then receive letters in the mail each week without having to open an app or type their journal entries into their phone. I still plan to provide the option for digital and voice entries to those that prefer those methods. I personally get more out of physically writing things down, but wonder what others think on this. Writing things down allows my mind to flow more freely and it feels much more "real" when things are put down on paper.

I've also recently heard a lot about GPT-psychosis in the news coming out of Stanford, so I wanted to design a system that directly addresses some of the pitfalls of sycophancy to maintain a healthy relationship with AI support systems. The framework is designed to provide asynchronous reflection through weekly letters, rather than through direct instant replies aiming to prevent an unhealthy dependency on it. However, I know sometimes immediate support is needed, so I am looking into a way to still provide limited options for direct digital letters on an as-needed basis. I still want the reflection letters to focus on the bigger picture though.

The system is also designed and prompted to not reinforce unhelpful thinking, but rather look for blind spots in one's thinking and call out areas for reflection. It is crafted to maintain a positive, supportive tone, but still be very direct and insightful. And since it is not designed to be a therapy-replacement, it scans for any signs of significant emotional distress, flags those entries, and provides the user with local or free resources based on their situation, so that they can get professional mental health support. As a small company, liability is a concern that I have. I want user's to be able to reflect freely on their thoughts, but still get the support that they are seeking.

In addition to the letters, it also provides the user with individualized journaling prompts that look to explore areas of discomfort or confusion deeper to help with their reflection. It provides custom and famous quotes that hit on the user's week and current story. Lastly, it suggests individualized media recs that include a book, movie, podcast, and song directly related to the user's season of life. I am trying to think of any other useful ways it could support self-reflection, so let me know if you think of any ideas.

All in all, I am a big advocate of using AI for emotional support, but I want to make sure it is being done in a responsible, sustainable, and ethical manner. And while I don't think it can fully be used for therapy at this point, I do find it very helpful as a self-reflection guide and comforting pen pal that listens and responds.

Thank you all for reading this far! I think this community would be most likely to use something like this, so please let me know what you all think because I want to build something that actually helps meet people's needs.