this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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Uncharted territory: do AI girlfriend apps promote unhealthy expectations for human relationships?::Chatbots such as Eva AI are getting better at mimicking human interaction but some fear they feed into unhealthy beliefs around gender-based control and violence

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[–] [email protected] 65 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Isn't there a rule about when headlines ask a question the answer is 'no'?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It's interesting to note that in the three studies cited in the Wikipedia article, the plurality of the answers to the headline-questions studied were "yes"

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Very often the author wants to say something in order to attract more clicks, but they know they can’t get away with it without being called out or sued. That’s when question headlines come in, because this way they always leave the back door open. It’s very rare for the question to be there for any other reason.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I would guess for most people it's no. However, I would also expect this to appeal to the people where the answer is more likely to be yes. Those people are also the most vulnerable to the incel messaging though, which that will absolutely promote unhealthy expectations for relationships, so is this a net positive or negative? Idk.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember being taught this in my high school journalism class, definitely one of the most valuable things I learned in high school

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

There are exceptions to the rule, and this is one of them.

The rule works so well because journalists who can make a statement of fact, make a statement of fact. When they can't stand the idea up, they use a question mark for cover. eg China is in default on a trillion dollars in debt to US bondholders. Will the US force repayment? .

This is an opinion piece which is asking a philosophical question. The rule does not apply.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure Cunningham's Law says that energy is conserved in a closed physical system

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No FAP November is right around the corner.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That’s Cumminghand’s Law!

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

To me the concept of an app optimised to create deep emotional attachment ( far beyond social media, or even para social relationships with online personalities ) for monetary gain, is sketchy at best - heavily dystopian vibes at worst.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It is.

Sarah Z made a video where she gets into some of the darker parts of Replika's concept and evolution. It's a fairly stinky business model.

https://youtu.be/3WSKKolgL2U

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/3WSKKolgL2U

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

Too long and not my style. But I think you just need a bit of imagination to see the problems that will arise - especially with how many frustrated young guys seem to be out there.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

But also it will make shit ton of money.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think at that point you’ve kinda given up on human to human based relationship so it’s moot

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If it prevents school mass shootings, I’m all for it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah who cares what they do as long as they’re getting whatever they need out of it. Not my farm, not my heffers. As long as that heffer doesn’t come trampling the kids.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Hollywood romantic comedies have been promoting unhealthy expectations for human relationships for decades now, so why would AI be all that worse?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I would also worry about the privacy aspects, as people tend to reveal pretty personal information to each other inside of relationships. What happens when somebody reveals something illegal to an AI chatbot partner? Suddenly your partner is ratting you out to the cops, which admittedly could happen in real life anyways, but in general how much privacy do you really have. It’s kind of niche audience for now I guess, but I suspect when this function gets merged with RealDoll form factors is when this whole artificial girlfriend will really take off. At that point, when the choice becomes whether you go hunting for a real human girl who is difficult to please, unpredictable, doesn’t always do what you want, doesn’t share all your likes/fetishes, etc VS just getting an AI girlfriend that can be anything you want them to be and won’t say no to anything, I think it’s easy to see the route that many will go.

<insert Futurama ‘Don’t have sex with robots’ video>

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Brought to you by the space pope

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Oh replika the app that suddenly went paywalled for any words deemed horny to exploit the horny of their audience

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I've tried a few of these and they quickly lose their appeal. It's definitely not for me and I don't understand how anyone could be fooled.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Most likely not a great idea.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Where are they getting the training data from? If Twitter posts then no one will date the "AI" anyway.

The types of people I'd personally want to date probably don't give out their data so easy.