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VOA慢速英语|AI App Helps People with ADHD
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[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.
[00:06.81]Becky Litvintchouk did not think she would be able to finish the many tasks needed to start her own business.
[00:17.99]She has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD.
[00:26.15]It affects every part of her life and hurts her ability to focus on one thing at a time.
[00:35.22]So, two years ago, she turned to artificial intelligence, or AI.
[00:42.42]She uses an app called Claude.
[00:46.53]It helps her decide which contracts are the best for her cleaning-wipes business, GetDirty.
[00:55.72]Using the app means she does not need to read each contract, word for word.
[01:03.88]She also created business plans by telling the generative AI bot what her goals were.
[01:12.68]It then created steps for her to reach them.
[01:17.07]”It’s been just massively instrumental. I probably would not be where I am today,” Litvintchouk said of using AI.
[01:28.54]People with ADHD experience difficulties with focusing, organizing and controlling urges.
[01:40.77]Experts say generative AI tools can help them finish tasks more quickly.
[01:48.49]However, they also warn that such tools should not replace traditional treatments for ADHD.
[01:59.83]Some experts also have concerns about possibly using AI too much.
[02:07.35]They also worry about privacy risks.
[02:11.84]John Mitchell is an associate professor at Duke University School of Medicine in North Carolina.
[02:21.74]He said that AI apps should be used as “one tool in a toolbox.”
[02:30.25]AI should not take the place of traditional treatments, such as developing organizational skills or taking medications.
[02:43.24]He compared using AI to help ADHD with swimming and staying alive in the water.
[02:54.10]”If you’re kind of treading water in your job and AI’s a life preserver, well, that’s great you’re staying above water.”
[03:06.20]But, he added, “you still don’t know how to swim.”
[03:12.05]Litvintchouk, a married mother of four living in New York City, dropped out of high school and left the workforce.
[03:22.62]Research shows that these things are more likely to happen to people with ADHD.
[03:31.23]Aside from helping with her business, she uses ChatGPT to help with food shopping.
[03:39.81]Food shopping and meal planning are tasks that can be difficult for people with ADHD because these tasks require organizational skills.
[03:55.25]After sharing her method with another mom with ADHD, she decided more people needed to know about it.
[04:03.73]She started making videos on TikTok about the AI tools she uses to help with her ADHD struggles.
[04:14.37]Generative AI tools can help people with ADHD break down big tasks into smaller, more doable steps.
[04:26.29]Chatbots can offer advice for specific things and make people feel like they are talking with a real person.
[04:36.15]Some AI apps can also help with reminders and productivity.
[04:43.22]Software engineer Bram de Buyser said he created Goblin.tools with his neurodivergent friends in mind.
[04:53.63]The tool’s most popular feature is the “magic to-do.”
[05:00.64]A user can enter a task and the bot will create a to-do list.
[05:06.07]It can even break down large items on the list into smaller tasks.
[05:13.25]”I’m not trying to build a cure,” de Buyser said, “but something that helps them out (for) two minutes out of the day that they would otherwise struggle with.”
[05:26.61]Russell Fulmer is a professor at Husson University in the northeastern state of Maine.
[05:35.29]He described the research around AI and ADHD as “inconclusive.”
[05:43.44]In other words, the results of its usefulness are still not known.
[05:51.88]Experts say they see how AI can have a positive effect on the lives of people with anxiety and ADHD.
[06:03.96]But, Fulmer said, such tools may not work well for everyone, including people of color with ADHD.
[06:16.35]He pointed to chatbot responses that have been racist and unfair toward certain groups of people at times.
[06:28.20]Valese Jones is a publicist and founder of Sincerely Nicole Media.
[06:36.26]She was diagnosed with ADHD as a child.
[06:41.47]She uses AI bots to help with reading and responding to emails as well as proofreading public relations plans.
[06:53.83]But chatbot responses do not always go along with who she really is.
[07:00.70]”There are cadences in my writing where you can kind of pick up on the fact that I’m southern, and that’s on purpose,” said Jones, who is Black.
[07:12.61]She purposefully writes in a way that shows her culture.
[07:18.59]However, the responses she gets back from bots often do not show that.
[07:26.37]Software engineer de Buyser said that using AI chatbots as a personal assistant has a big upside: They are never tired and never sleep.
[07:39.25]The downside? They also create privacy issues.
[07:44.79]When you give an AI chatbot your personal information, emails, calendar and personal writings, you are giving it to a big company, he warned.
[07:59.84]And that’s the Health & Lifestyle report.
[08:02.89]I’m Anna Matteo.
[08:04.57]And I’m Andrew Smith.
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Words in This Story
focus -n. a center of activity, attraction, or attention
generative -adj. having the power or function of generating, originating, producing, or reproducing
instrumental -adj. serving as a crucial means, agent, or tool
tread water -v. while in deep water a person float in an upright position by moving their legs slightly
life preserver -n. a device (such as a life jacket or life buoy) designed to save a person from drowning by providing buoyancy in water
neurodivergent -adj. having or relating to a disorder or condition (such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit disorder, dyslexia, or obsessive-compulsive disorder) that impacts the way the brain processes information : exhibiting or characteristic of variations in typical neurological development
inconclusive -adj. leading to no conclusion or definite result
diagnose -n. to recognize (something, such as a disease) by signs and symptoms
cadence -n. a rhythmic sequence or flow of sounds in language
