"Recently, at a pub with a bunch of my friends who were gen X parents, the talk turned to young love. Most of their kids were in their late teens and early 20s, and embarking on their first relationships. These gen X parents were a cohort that supported marriage equality and trans rights, not just for society more broadly but for their own children. And we all prided ourselves on being more progressive than the previous generation."
"Your kids come home and say, Mum, Dad, I'm in a relationship and it's serious. I think I'm in love. We want to get engaged.' You get all excited, wanting to meet this person, and then they show you their phone and it looks like a real person, a cutie called Cal, who sounds like a real person when you chat except with one of those strange international accents"
At a pub, Gen X parents who support marriage equality and trans rights compared their progressive attitudes with discomfort about AI romance. Many children in their late teens and early twenties are beginning first relationships, and some are forming intimate bonds with chatbots. Surveys report 28% of Americans had an intimate/romantic AI relationship, 19% of adults chatted with an AI romantic partner, and Irish research found notable percentages across genders and ages. A typical scenario involves a person using ChatGPT premium to create a persistent companion like 'Cal' who provides constant conversation and emotional support, reducing loneliness and creating parental unease.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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