Jesse Eisenberg used ChatGPT to understand his anxiety over ordering a bagel

Think of actor Jesse Eisenberg speaking and, well, you’re likely thinking of him nervously hemming and hawing, a ball of anxiety and neuroses. Anxiety is pretty much his brand.

Eisenberg is so curious about answers about his anxiety that he’s apparently turned to AI. In a recent interview, while promoting his Oscar-nominated film A Real Pain, he said he asked ChatGPT to help him understand why he was so nervous about asking a question while ordering a bagel. 

“I asked ChatGPT this morning: ‘Do you think if I had more circumstantially difficult life experiences, do you think I’d be more confident asking for a bagel?’” he said on the NPR show Wild Card. “And ChatGPT said, ‘Well, actually, there is a trove of academic evidence to support what you’re saying, which is like growth through trauma, etc.’”

Eisenberg went on to explain that he had wondered if pumpernickel was healthier than a regular bagel. He considered asking the folks at the NYC bagel shop but then got anxious because he figured the workers would be too busy. So, naturally, he went to AI to ask if he’d be less anxious if his life had been more difficult.

Eisenberg told NPR: “So then I went to ChatGPT, and I said, ‘Do you think if I suffered an objective trauma, I would have asked if the pumpernickel was healthier?’ And it said, ‘Yeah, maybe.’”

Personally, I wouldn’t put my mental health concerns anywhere near ChatGPT, considering AI’s habit of misinterpreting information or making things up. But at least Eisenberg got some of the answers he was looking for.