What if AI systems weren't chatbots?

TL;DR

This paper critiques the dominance of chatbot-based AI systems, highlighting their societal, economic, and environmental downsides, and advocates for alternative, more sustainable AI development approaches.

Contribution

It provides a critical analysis of the societal impacts of chatbot AI and proposes alternative directions emphasizing diversity, task-specific tools, and safeguards.

Findings

Chatbots often fail in complex or high-stakes contexts.

Normalization of chatbots alters work, learning, and decision-making patterns.

Large-scale chatbot infrastructures contribute to environmental costs and economic power concentration.

Abstract

The rapid convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) toward conversational chatbot interfaces marks a critical moment for the industry. This paper argues that the chatbot paradigm is not a neutral interface choice, but a dominant sociotechnical configuration whose widespread adoption reshapes social, economic, legal, and environmental systems. We examine how treating AI primarily as conversational assistants has extensive structural downsides. We show how chatbot-based systems often fail to adequately meet user needs, particularly in complex or high-stakes contexts, while projecting confidence and authority. We further analyze how the normalization of chatbot-mediated interaction alters patterns of work, learning, and decision-making, contributing to deskilling, homogenization of knowledge, and shifting expectations of expertise. Finally, we examine broader societal effects, including labor displacement, concentration of economic power, and increased environmental costs driven by sustained investment in large-scale chatbot infrastructures. While acknowledging legitimate benefits, we argue that the current trajectory of AI development reflects specific value choices that prioritize conversational generality over domain specificity, accountability, and long-term social sustainability. We conclude by outlining alternative directions for AI development and governance that move beyond one-size-fits-all chatbots, emphasizing pluralistic system design, task-specific tools, and institutional safeguards to mitigate social and economic harm.