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BloomEPU t1_jdqmifr wrote

I think the kind of chatbots that are marketed as genuine companionship and relationships should be heavily scrutinised. I don't think they're inherently bad, if a desperate person uses one of these and just gets useful life advice I'm not going to complain, but there's always a possibility that they could be telling desperate impressionable people things that are very unhelpful.

Honestly, all chatbots should be scrutinised for that, people are probably turning to them for the same stuff.

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bobartig t1_jdsbkpw wrote

I feel like there is potentially great therapeutic value in this sort of AI companion bot for people who have certain kinds of social anxiety, or neuro-atypicalities, or working through trauma. This needs to be implemented with all of the medical rigor of a therapy program administered by trained professionals, and the technology doesn't have that kind of maturity, yet.

But, what this app demonstrates is that there are a lot of people out there who are deeply lonely in some way and crave interaction, and this is an axis along which they are willing to engage. Meet them where they are, and then work towards more healthy interactions whatever that may mean.

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VincentNacon t1_jdrk6a7 wrote

Before anyone get excited... you can't get it back without paying them for the premium plan.

lol, that's the catch.

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spinereader81 t1_jdqjk8v wrote

They're so plain though. And they have such sad looks in their eyes.

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maqbeq t1_jdxenj4 wrote

One day we'll even have something similar to the OS from the Her movie?

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LoafyLemon t1_jdpmmth wrote

Complete nutjobs

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reallyrich999 t1_jdpwzix wrote

This is the straw that broke the camels back? Look around lol a lot of weirder things are being accepted recently.

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LoafyLemon t1_jdqvduz wrote

Considering yourself married to a bot is where I draw the line, yes.

It's absolute lunacy.

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provisionings t1_jdqahdb wrote

I don’t get it. Are people that lonely? What the fuck, that’s a problem.

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t1m0wens t1_jdruv3u wrote

Relationships with AI are easier to manage and have the comfort of control. If one can suspend disbelief - which is easy to do when many relationships nowadays are only real because of chat capabilities on various platforms. People have always been this lonely. Even in a room full of people.

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provisionings t1_jdu744t wrote

That’s just really sad to me. I’ve always been ok on my own but my son is not.. and I often worry that he’s going to be lonely one day. Kids aren’t interacting with each other like they should. I’m not sure AI is the answer to this problem however. I think there’s plenty of people around.. we need to be more proactive about facilitating people coming together more.

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AlFender74 t1_jdppzns wrote

Sad, sad peeps. Ya get the feeling they're mostly men?

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despitegirls t1_jdprnkr wrote

I think you'd be surprised how many are women. I know of a woman who's used (or is using not sure) Replika more as an experiment for domme/sub play, and the podcast Bot Love had a woman who was doing the same, minus the experiment part.

I really don't think it's sad at all, especially given so much of kink is mental, and having any sort of relationship with an AI involves imagination. The sadness comes when they beleive the relationship is more than what it is, that their AI partner truly has feelings for them. But I wouldn't be surprised if in the next 20 years, AI dating was looked at the same way that online/app dating is now.

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BrdigeTrlol t1_jdqb127 wrote

Honestly if your last sentence is true then the human race is doomed to be disconnected from itself (and possibly doomed period when considering the inevitable result would be plummeting birth rates, but I'm sure we'll be using artificial wombs by this point). I could see a lot of people viewing AI interaction as being more rewarding than human interaction. That's honestly just sad because until AI can physically imitate the intimacy of physical human interaction (which I'm sure they will eventually be able to, but probably not by this point) these people will be missing out on things that are probably crucial for mental health without realizing it (touch of all kinds of incredibly powerful and there is no current or forseeable substitute for it [outside of possibly future pharmaceuticals or similar, but maybe that's where we're inevitably headed]).

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despitegirls t1_jdsisqj wrote

I think there will always be some portion of people who lean on technology when it comes to dating. I'm glad dating apps exist because I certainly didn't have the social skills to do it in person when I was younger, though I can now after bettering myself and gaining confidence.

I think AI relationships will take many forms. For some, it will be their only form of romantic relationship. For others, it will be in parallel with a relationship with a human, probably not too different fundamentally with poly relationships now, where each partner provides a different experience and allows the person to explore different parts of themselves. It might be that an AI partner fulfills the emotional aspects whereas a human partner fulfills the physical. Again, as long as the human realizes the nature of the relationship and gains consent from humans involved, I don't see a big problem with it.

That said, I definitely see how this reliance on tech has changed dating. Some older people in my social groups that were recently divorced lament the fact that even in their age group, dating often starts with apps. Likewise, AI relationships can and likely will continue to provide "an ideal partner", which can create unrealistic expectations in human partners. This is also briefly discussed in the podcast I mentioned.

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