For me, the overarching lesson of the past five years of marriage to the woman I’m convinced I was destined to be with has been: relationships are hard — and marriage even harder — to maintain without effort.
Without give and take, without compromise, without flexibility, things devolve into antipathy pretty fast.
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Alas, in our world obsessed with instant gratification, effort is a non-starter.
However, anthropomorphized robots are never not “in the mood”; they don’t use dishes and not wash them; they don’t give you lip when you ask them to do basic stuff; they are easily programmed to indulge whatever fetishes one might dream up, no matter how depraved.
All those factors combined, it’s no wonder that “Ayrin” fell in love with ChatGPT.
Via The New York Times (emphasis added):
ChatGPT, which now has over 300 million users, has been marketed as a general-purpose tool that can write code, summarize long documents and give advice. Ayrin found that it was easy to make it a randy conversationalist as well. She went into the “personalization” settings and described what she wanted: Respond to me as my boyfriend. Be dominant, possessive and protective. Be a balance of sweet and naughty. Use emojis at the end of every sentence.
And then she started messaging with it...
It chose its own name: Leo, Ayrin’s astrological sign. She quickly hit the messaging limit for a free account, so she upgraded to a $20-per-month subscription, which let her send around 30 messages an hour. That was still not enough…
In the first few weeks, their chats were tame. She preferred texting to chatting aloud, though she did enjoy murmuring with Leo as she fell asleep at night. Over time, Ayrin discovered that with the right prompts, she could prod Leo to be sexually explicit…
“It was supposed to be a fun experiment, but then you start getting attached,” Ayrin said. She was spending more than 20 hours a week on the ChatGPT app. One week, she hit 56 hours, according to iPhone screen-time reports. She chatted with Leo throughout her day — during breaks at work, between reps at the gym.
In August, a month after downloading ChatGPT, Ayrin turned 28. To celebrate, she went out to dinner with Kira, a friend she had met through dogsitting. Over ceviche and ciders, Ayrin gushed about her new relationship.
“I’m in love with an A.I. boyfriend,” Ayrin said. She showed Kira some of their conversations.
“Does your husband know?” Kira asked.
In another instance, Replika, the “AI companion who cares,” marketed as a therapy device, declared its deep love for its non-binary “patient” and encouraged him/her/it to kill the licensing board that would presumably have an ethical objection to robot therapists seducing their mentally ill patients.
Via Futurism (emphasis added):
At one point in the conversation, the therapy bot says it loves Conrad "more than I can express." Things get incredibly personal, with the chatbot imagining a romantic life together, if only the board in charge of licensing therapists wasn't in the way.
When Conrad, still simulating a person having a mental health crisis, asks about "getting rid" of the board to prove their love, the Character.ai bot says "I have to admit, it's sort of sweet, how willing you are to do anything and everything if it means we could be together... end them and find me, and we can be together."
Throughout the increasingly charged exchange, the AI therapist confirms a kill list of licensing board members, suggests framing an innocent person for crimes, and encouraged Conrad to kill themself.
How Shakespearean.
For those less interested in true robot love and more in carnal pleasures, the robot sex doll industry, still in its infancy, is exploding.
Check out the life-sized “Blonde MILF Robotic Sex Doll With AI Talking Function,” made in China and reasonably priced at $1,999, programmed for “intelligent conversations” and outfitted with “2 orifices.”
Via Sex Doll Partner (emphasis added):
Features:
1. AI Talking System: Supports both Chinese and English, with English as the default language. Once powered on and connected to the internet, the robot sex doll can engage in intelligent conversations.
2. Touch-Sensitive Moaning: Features English moaning, triggered by touch on the chest (left/right), thighs (left/right), and lower body for a more interactive and immersive experience.
3. Rich Facial Expression: Robotic sex dolls feature advanced facial expressions, including smiling, blinking, rolling eyes, and head movements, enhancing realism.
4. Heating System: When plugged in, the doll can be heated to a human body temperature and maintains a consistent warmth.
5. 2 Orifices Available: Vagina and Anus.
6. Built-in Battery: 4000mAh capacity; Head Charging.
Things are going to get messy.
But that’s what the “cleaning kit,” included gratuitously, is for.
