> As a suicidal person it can be extremely difficult to open up to another human being because my convictions of hopelessness and futility are so strong that to truly communicate them would also mean cursing the listener with knowledge that would make they themselves suicidal.

It's kind of interesting to hear that perspective. I don't worry about making others suicidal (maybe I should?) but instead worry that they'd be overly concerned about me all of the time when, e.g. I've just had a particularly bad day that day.

I certainly agree that chatbots seem to be a low-risk alternative to that. It's a never-ending delicate calculus over who you can tell what to considering that here in the US you can be locked up in a psychiatric facility for (at least) 48 hours for being a "harm to yourself." Thus, you can't explore your own feelings with another person and keep them locked inside, which is a much better alternative. /s

I'm definitely interested in using a chatbot as long as it itself isn't tied into any suicide hotline reporting scheme.