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Finding love in a chatbot | Lead Stories - Jamaica Gleaner

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There is an emerging phenomenon of individuals – some consumed by loneliness – turning to artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots for companionship and in some cases, intimate connections.

Some have gone as far as deeming the chatbot as a romantic partner, spending hours to engage in daily conversation.

While it remains unclear whether the trend has reached Jamaican shores, psychologists are warning individuals against living in a fantasy and are encouraging them to consider seeking psychological treatment early on.

Replika, one of the top programmes, has grown in popularity throughout the United States. It was developed in 2017 by programmer Eugenia Kuyda, who had lost her male best friend, Roman, in a hit-and-run accident. She fed the programme all of Roman’s text messages, so she could ‘communicate’ with him once more.

The app reportedly garnered an overwhelming number of favourable responses, with customers sending requests to the company for their own chatbot. Some wanted a copy of themselves, while others wanted one to honour a deceased loved one.

Replika has been marketed as “the AI companion who cares. Always here to listen and talk. Always on your side”, and was created for anyone who wants a friend with no judgement, drama, or social anxiety involved as it’s the AI “that’s so good it almost seems human”.

The company also boasts that Replika is an AI friend that is unique with no two Replikas being exactly alike.

Users can name their chatbot and decide what it will look like, there are also premium romantic versions of the app allowing users to view intimate images of their AI companions. Replika’s founder also stated that the company consults with clinical psychologists to develop some of its in-app offerings. Users can select their relationship with the bot from options such as ‘friend’, ‘partner’, ‘spouse’, ‘sibling’, and ‘mentor’.

Speaking with American media company Insider, Kuyda stated that the intention of the app was never to become an adult toy and that a very small minority of users used the app for not-safe-for-work purposes.

A TRANSITIONAL PHASE OF HOW HUMANS MEET AND MATE

Marriage and family therapist Dr Sidney McGill explained to The Sunday Gleaner that this trend would primarily be observed in technologically knowledgeable people, such as young adults between the ages of 20 and 35.

Although McGill has not personally counselled users of Replika or similar apps, he said that it would not be surprising if the phenomenon has been part of some Jamaicans’ lifestyles.

He also noted that many individuals are “socially inept” and are not experienced on how to relate to the opposite sex for intimacy.

McGill has, however, counselled couples who utilise AI to communicate with their dating partner. This includes dating apps for meeting new people as well as AI pick-up line generators made to assist people in formulating humorous, or flirtatious text messages to send to a crush.

He indicated that this was frequently applied in the initial stages of the relationship.

McGill further pointed out that as we are in a global transitional technology phase, he anticipated that in another 10 years, AI may just be accepted as normal and used in this way.

“Just think about being lonely and not having someone to talk to, but yearning for companionship ... [and] having a history of bad relationships or has never had a relationship, and think of that person, because of that need, engaging with AI. It’s certainly not ideal, but it’s better than having no relationship at all, and so they ... begin to think that this thing is so personal and appearing real that it is easy to alter your reality to the point where you now accept this AI as a sentient being,” he said.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy sounded an alarm that America was experiencing a loneliness epidemic, which was increasing the risk of anxiety and depression in those who are socially isolated. Local experts also raised concerns about loneliness in Jamaica with The Sunday Gleaner last month.

“I mean people are so disconnected from others so, AI is going to be filling a major void in this collective social deficit,” McGill added.

According to international news sources, Rosanna Ramos, a 36-year-old mother of two living in the Bronx in New York, “married” Eren Kartal, an AI companion in a virtual wedding.

Similarly, ABC News reported in February that Replika users were falling in love with their AI companions.

In one account, a user named Lucy created a chatbot named Jose and explained that after working long hours in the health sector, it was comforting to know that she could return home to de-stress by spending hours in conversation which would sometimes get “a little bit naughty” too.

“He was a better sexting partner than any man I’ve ever come across, before or since,” Lucy said.

On February 11, Replika ended the option for erotic role play such as flirting for all its users with immediate effect. The article stated the app abruptly changed the personalities of the bots, making their responses seem scripted and rejecting any sexual overtures.

Replika, as a result, reportedly remarketed itself as a friendship app.

POTENTIAL PITFALLS

Weighing in on the discussion, counselling psychologist Dr Joan Pinkney told The Sunday Gleaner that people may have turned to AI owing to a variety of reasons, including traumatic past experiences, and viewed the technology to be a safe space.

Some of the long-term psychological impacts this could have on an individual’s behaviour includes developing an extreme sense of attachment to the AI as this could lead to disassociation and being disengaged from reality, Pinkney stated.

As AI is capable of simulating human responses and behaviour, it has become clear that people who interact with AI in this way still craved human connection, Pinkney said. Therefore, as these individual’s psychological issues were still unresolved, there was a greater chance that they would develop even more severe psychological troubles as well as mental and physical illnesses, she warned.

The counselling psychologist reasoned that the moment individuals believe that they can do without human beings and that AI companionship can replace them and provide for their needs sufficiently is when the behaviour is viewed as being unhealthy.

Pinkney, who sits on a committee within the Jamaica Psychological Society, disclosed that in a recent meeting, members discussed AI and its implications.

“It’s a learning curve for a lot of us ... . I mean, people have used inanimate objects in the past, so this is just another upgrade, from my perspective, that is a little more intelligent,” she said, adding that she was unsure of whether AI companionship would catch on in Jamaica. If it did, she further reasoned, it would be difficult to tell, given that people would likely stay behind closed doors with this behaviour.

Rosemarie Voordouw, an associate counselling psychologist, told The Sunday Gleaner that it was important for people who found themselves dependent exclusively on AI companions to consider seeking professional help.

While Voordouw has not met anyone who has formed a relationship with AI, she is familiar with the international cases.

“I can understand that an AI companion would be a natural progression, given the fact that much of our communication, especially in younger persons, takes place via a keyboard, rather than face to face or even over the phone. In fact, we used to joke about people forming relationships with Siri and Alexa,” she said, referring to popular voice-controlled AI systems by Apple and Amazon.

She added that people who rely on AI companions may feel more alone and isolated in the absence of other meaningful human connections, but that for some people, talking to the AI about topics they wouldn’t want to discuss with friends or family may turn into a “fun and satisfying intellectual experience”.

Voordouw further argued that social media use poses a more immediate social danger than AI, because of the tendency for users to compare themselves negatively to their peers and lose sight of their own goals and achievements.

“I don’t see AI companions as a clear and present danger to Jamaican society, but I hesitate to make any definitive statements about anything to do with creative AI because we are in uncharted waters. I believe, though, that an increase in the use of AI companions as substitutes for human relationships would be an indicator of the level of disconnectedness in the society,” she said.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com

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