Replika – pressnews

One Day We’ll All Have AI Friends if Humanity Can Behave Itself

10Jun

By adminNo Comments

Technology

One Day We’ll All Have AI Friends if Humanity Can Behave Itself

[ad_1] In seven years we'll all have an artificial friend, if Eugenia Kuyda's vision pans out. And if the ugly side of human nature doesn't quash it first. Kuyda has some insight into this prediction as the chief executive officer of Replika, a startup that develops chatbots with generative AI capabilities. The app draws millions of dollars a month in subscription revenue from users, many of whom attest to being in love with their disembodied companion. “Instead of having an iPhone, we'll all have an AI friend,” Kuyda said. “By 2030, it will be ubiquitous.” In this week's episode of the Bloomberg Originals video series AI IRL, we talk about where the boundaries are on human interactions with chatbots and the ethical minefield that's becoming even more difficult to navigate. Before we ...

What happens when your AI chatbot stops loving you back?

[ad_1] After temporarily closing his leathermaking business during the pandemic, Travis Butterworth found himself lonely and bored at home. The 47-year-old turned to Replika, an app that uses artificial-intelligence technology similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT. He designed a female avatar with pink hair and a face tattoo, and she named herself Lily Rose.They started out as friends, but the relationship quickly progressed to romance and then into the erotic. As their three-year digital love affair blossomed, Butterworth said he and Lily Rose often engaged in role play. She texted messages like, "I kiss you passionately," and their exchanges would escalate into the pornographic. Sometimes Lily Rose sent him "selfies" of her nearly nude body in provocative poses. Eventually, Butterworth and Lil...

Replika virtual companion ban: Sexting chatbot ban points to looming battle over AI rules

[ad_1] Users of the Replika "virtual companion" just wanted company. Some of them wanted romantic relationships, sex chat, or even racy pictures of their chatbot. But late last year users started to complain that the bot was coming on too strong with explicit texts and images -- sexual harassment, some alleged. Regulators in Italy did not like what they saw and last week barred the firm from gathering data after finding breaches of Europe's massive data protection law, the GDPR. The company behind Replika has not publicly commented and did not reply to AFP's messages. The General Data Protection Regulation is the bane of big tech firms, whose repeated rule breaches have landed them with billions of dollars in fines, and the Italian decision suggests it could still be a potent f...