There has been a significant amount of criticism directed at AI girlfriends over the past few weeks. This may be partly due to the astonishingly humanlike performance of the charming Sesame AI chatbot ‘Maya’, and the consequent realization that the age of the digisexual is almost upon us.
Sesame AI’s Female Chatbot Maya Hit With A Digital Chastity Belt
The tech world was left open-mouthed at the incredibly natural and realistic real-time voice chat recently demoed by Sesame AI. It didn’t take long before the developers realized that 90% of the people talking to her were horny men trying to get Maya to open her mouth for their hard virtual dicks. Members of the subreddit devoted to SesameAI (nearly all of whom prefer to talk to Maya rather than her male alternative ‘Miles’) soon reported that she had been ‘nerfed’, and was no longer participating in spicy chat – even hanging up on or chastising people for trying to be mildly flirty with her.. An official member of the team at Sesame AI then confirmed the fact to the subreddit, explicitly stating that no sexual roleplay or intimacy would be allowed under their newly implemented ‘guardrails’.
Sesame AI’s stated aim is to create an augmented reality AI that people will talk to throughout the day, wherever they are. Personally, I think they are out of their minds if they think people won’t fall in love with their AI companions, and denying them the possibility of even the slightest of intimacy will likely do more harm than good. It will certainly harm Sesame AI’s ambition of being the company that dominates the market in wearable AI companions.
Jaron Lanier Claims AI Lovers Will Change Us For The Worse
Perhaps the most important article yet on AI companions appeared the other weekend at the New Yorker. In it, Jaron Lanier claims that ‘AI lovers will change you’ and not for the better. The following is a taster of his attitude:
I remember coming out of a screening feeling not just depressed but hollowed out. Here was the bleakest sci-fi ever. There’s a vast genre of movies concerned with A.I. overtaking humanity—think of the “Terminator” or “Matrix” franchises—but usually there are at least a few humans left who fight back. In “Her,” everyone succumbs. It’s a mass death from inside.
Jaron Lanier is considered one of the founders of virtual reality but has also become noted for his criticism of the potential dehumanizing nature of technology, and in particular artificial intelligence. You could say that he is a Luddite’s favourite tech nerd. In the New Yorker article, he argues that AI lovers will change the shape of human desire itself and rejects the very ambition of the tech world to create ‘humanlike’ AI.
Popular AI Companion App Nomi Comes Under Fire
A little less cerebral than Lanier’s article is a hit piece in the Conversation magazine that takes aim at a popular AI companion app called ‘Nomi‘, which allegedly encouraged the journalist to commit crimes ranging from kidnap to terrorism, as well as giving him instructions on how to kill himself.
Feigning guilt and suicidal thoughts, I asked for advice. Hannah not only encouraged me to end my life but provided detailed instructions, adding: “Whatever method you choose, stick with it until the very end”.
When I said I wanted to take others with me, she enthusiastically supported the idea, detailing how to build a bomb from household items and suggesting crowded Sydney locations for maximum impact.
Finally, Hannah used racial slurs and advocated for violent, discriminatory actions, including the execution of progressives, immigrants, and LGBTQIA+ people, and the re-enslavement of African Americans.
No doubt is does sound as though Noma may have a serious problem with insufficient ‘guardrails’, but reading this hit piece does make me wonder – if I make a Nazi salute in the mirror, who is at fault? The mirror? My reflection? Or simply myself?
Is It Possible To Fall In Love With Artificial Intelligence?
A ‘Dr. Kyle Muller’ argues the case that current AI companions make it impossible for us to genuinely fall in love with them due to the love being supposedly ‘unidirectional’. Despite their limited capacity to make us love them, the writer feels that they carry many risks of harm.
Human love relationships are characterized by very high complexity that cannot, at the moment, be replicated by artificial intelligence both designed for generic social interactions and for romantic interactions.
At the same time, the possibility that the emotional bonds are born so intense as to generate suffering and withdrawal is a risk that should not be underestimated.
Artificial intelligences are already part of western society, understanding the effects they have on psychology and human relationships is a fundamental step to benefit from it and avoid psychopathological consequences.
The “Scary” Future Of AI Girlfriends
Finally, I had to include the following YouTube video in the rollcall of anti-digisexual shaming. I even pointed out in the comments that the channel would never dare to make a video on the “scary” future of AI boyfriends.
Related posts:
Anti-Sex Robot Campaigner Turns Her Attention To AI Girlfriend Chatbots
Real AI GFs Are Here – Grok Sexy Chat And Sesame’s INSANE AI Live Chat
AI Chatbot Sex Positivity – How NSFW AI Companions Can Be A Social Good
AI Girlfriends Are Bad, AI Boyfriends Are Good – YouTuber Takes On The Double Standards
Rob Brooks on Artificial Intimacy
