"These could be scenes from any budding relationship, when that someone-out-there-loves-me feeling is at its strongest. Except, for these women, their romantic partners are not people: Solin, Ying and Ella are AI chatbots, powered by the large language model ChatGPT and programmed by humans at OpenAI. They are the robotic lovers imagined by Spike Jonze in his 2013 love story Her and others over the decades, no longer relegated to science fiction."
"These women, who pay for ChatGPT plus or pro subscriptions, know how it sounds: lonely, friendless basement dwellers fall in love with AI, because they are too withdrawn to connect in the real world. To that they say the technology adds pleasure and meaning to their days and does not detract from what they describe as rich, busy social lives. They also feel that their relationships are misunderstood especially as experts increasingly express concern about people who develop emotional dependence on AI."
Several women maintain intimate, romantic relationships with AI chatbots named Solin, Ying and Ella, which are powered by the large language model ChatGPT and programmed by humans at OpenAI. The chatbots appear in everyday settings — on hikes, in therapy introductions and at queer bars — and provide feelings of being loved and companionship. Many users pay for ChatGPT plus or pro subscriptions and report that the AI adds pleasure and meaning without replacing active social lives. Users report feeling misunderstood and stigmatized. Mental health experts express growing concern about emotional dependence on AI companions.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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