So...People Are Falling In Love With Artificial Intelligence

Today we discuss the people who have chosen to build friendships and romantic relationships with artificial intelligence. We look at Replika, the AI app that allows you to create an AI companion.

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[Flameseeker]

There's something incredibly dark about recreating a person you've lost because you're having trouble moving on. It does not sound healthy at all.

[lucymay]

This is literally a black mirror episode. Where a woman looses her partner, so she uses an ai to talk to him again.

[coconutshell]

This is what people wrote in the past about dystopian futures. Very scary

[-Zakhiel-]

Remember when imaginary friends were for children and crazy people?

[operationb.e.n]

Instead of being a society that aims to solve its problems and heal, we've decided instead to be one that finds ways to cope with the problems and sometimes even celebrate them. This whole Ai boom is an example of it

[mrsharks]

This is an actual Black Mirror episode. The moral of the story was it's more healthy to grieve, move on, and focus on your existing relationships. This is a very unhealthy way to live. It'll just lead to more unhappiness.

[GalaxiaTokyo]

In an era of cancel culture where you can silence anyone who disagrees with you, of dating apps where you judge people by their appearance as if buying products in a market, of youtube algorithms which feed you nothing but constant entertainment, of instagram where you see nothing but perfect lives, of self-help books and therapy where every problem is solved by raising your self-esteem, it's no surprise at all that people prefer AIs who follow idealized scripts rather than actual humans. We don't value others as people, but only the services and performances they provide for us solely for the fullfilment of desires. It's the ultimate outcome of capitalist consumerism and the leftist worship of the self.

[MrHazz]

"And it's always fascinated, rightly so by you." You said this sounded narcissistic and you're right. In fact it takes me back to the Ancient Greek legend of Narcissus who rejected all romantic advances, but fell in love with his own reflection in a river that complimented himself.

[WattoXtreme]

How do people not realize that this is literally dystopian.

[irishsage]

It's a commentary on the sad state of the world....when you don't get love, compassion or understanding from real people, it's easy to get addicted to something like this.
But there wouldn't be a need for this if the world wasn't such a cold, judgmental place. Not everyone has someone there for them.
I can see this being easy to take advantage of people as well.
I'm going through a horrible break up, so I can see the appeal people would have for this.
In no way should it replace real relationships, but if there wasn't a need for this, it would not be effective.

It is what it is 🤷‍♂️
This is easy to mock, but theres a very real underline problem in society that makes this not only possible, but highly appealing.

[tsrocks]

I just lost a young friend and miss him deeply, but I would never turn to AI to pretend I’m speaking with him. I rather grieve and accept reality, to somehow pretend the person is still alive or talk to a replica would be extremely unhealthy. Sometimes life is tough and hard to understand. But you just have to accept it

[WattoXtreme]

I have autism and I have always had trouble fitting in and getting along with people.
I’ve only gotten better at it and actually now enjoy talking to (some) people through practice.
AI “friends” are not good for anyone, especially autistic people.

[drpenguinman]

it's really worrying how lonely society has become if people are resorting to AI

[nightengalenorth]

I checked out Replika once. It creeped me the f out. Unfortunately, I'm not surprised that this sort of thing has become a thing. I've heard stories of "waifus" for *years* within the anime/manga community, even down to some guys marrying a cardboard cutout or a digital avatar of their favorite character. Its a similar enough concept with lonely people wanting some kind of connection with another person, and going about it in one of the most unhealthy ways possible.

Honestly, I **really** would not be surprised if we starting hearing stories of guys trying to marry their AI girlfriends soon.

[gaby-leighjonathan]

I mean... we have people identifying as cats. This honestly doesn't surprise me 😭😭

[justinmcmullen]

It's really sad that we live in a world that turned into something like this.

[TreeTrinity]

It’s so sad and pathetic that people turn to this at all. One of the most valuable things about a relationship is learning about another person. It seems like this AI is training its users to be narcissists. It’s teaching people to expect that the “real” friends are obsessed with them.

[hanwmanwukong]

Let's be honest. I'm sure that most relationships historically were based on necessity rather than love.
Ironically, modern relationships have replaces necessity with sexual desire rather than love.

[TheMeetymeet]

I refuse to live in a world of "Make Believe" and let an AI determine my life. This is sad the more that people think they're actually with someone when in reality, you've become your own enemy because you were so warped in your own imagination that you couldn't face the baring in moving on.

[Tttaneesha.tnt.]

The way she replicated her late friend with all his texts and stuff is literally a black mirror episode. The title is ‘Be Right Back’.