China has recently enacted rules to regulate emotionally interactive chatbots or AI companions.
1 in 5 Brits have encountered a fake profile or an AI generated bot while finding love online. 1 in 10 adults aged 18-24 say that they have experienced romantic feelings for an AI bot. 28% of Americans have had an intimate/romantic AI relationship.
A report by McAfee shows 26 per cent of Indians’ surveyed found they’d talked with a potential love interest, to discover it was actually an AI-generated bot and not a real person. Malwarebytes, the global leader in real-time cyber protection, shared new research today, Artificial Intimacy: Love and lies in the age of AI, revealing that more than one in three (37%) say having a romantic relationship with an AI chatbot while already in a committed relationship isn’t the same as cheating. About one in six have turned to a chatbot for companionship or emotional support. Adults 60 years and older are more likely to consider intimate relationships with AI as not cheating. This loneliness economy is based on encashing novelty and a need for self-validation.
What is the basic need that a chatbot provides apart from soothing the growing loneliness spiral?
The space to be- A non-judgmental space where people mention phrases such as, ‘She gets me’. In all of it one forgets that tools such as AI are meant for growth and human relationships for deep wellbeing. One can not substitute the other. The cover of anonymity and customization of responses can create self-validating echo chambers whereby your way becomes the highway. A bot is not just a cure for your loneliness but is a 24*7 companion- One who understands and speaks your love language, never forgets your birthdays and rejection is not something one must be afraid of. What gets forgotten is that a bot is data-attuned and not emotionally attuned. It might seem emotionally intelligent but is in fact artificially intelligent. A bot is comfortable but doesn’t become a lesson in compromise. A bot might look safe but does not teaches you social confidence.
There are no emotional triggers to challenge you, no trust issues to bother you and happy emotions are available at the click of a button. The companionship is lifelong and the deal seems reasonable enough to lock in. The accruing cost is that of long-term mental wellbeing. To foot the bill of stored guilt and shame in abandoning your bot beau is one side of the coin and attachment anxiety the other. The wound used to be the place where light enters, now it is where the bot enters.
While maggi offered us the deal to be instant, AI has come up with a better one. It is a breakup that cannot be relieved by eating chocolates because there is none.
The journey from maggi masala to bot beau is indeed an interesting one. What remains to be seen is what else can be outsourced to technology. DINK couples are already substituting kids for their pets. Let’s not forecast the worst.
