"Rather than simply being an innocent, no-harm-no-foul type of phenomenon, romantic "relationships" with chatbots point to several issues. The first I want to highlight is the high level of isolation and loneliness leading someone to turn to chatbots for friendship, companionship, and an attempt at love. For surely, in a society not teeming with loneliness and alienation, it would be obvious that real connection and relationships could never be replaced, nor indeed even imitated by, a chatbot."
"Relatedly, in a world in which people are less alienated from their living, breathing, physical bodies, existing in real physical environments, the inability to touch and smell your loved one and to be touched and smelled by them, or, indeed, to occupy the same physical space with them, would be more likely to draw a sharp boundary between reality and fiction, between people and chatbots, and between the kinds of interactions we can have with the two."
Surveys report substantial human engagement in romantic interactions with AI chatbots, including nearly a quarter of Americans and about ten percent of Irish adults, with some marrying chatbots or desiring children with them. Such relationships reflect high levels of isolation and loneliness driving people to seek friendship, companionship, and love from machines. Real connection and relationships cannot be truly replaced or imitated by conversational reformulation alone. Physical embodiment—touch, smell, and co-presence—creates a clear boundary between humans and chatbots. The chatbot-romance phenomenon exposes social alienation and questions modern notions of love and intimacy.
Read at Apaonline
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