I loved that episode of Black Mirror (“be right back”, discussed in the article). There was a chat app a few years back — I can’t remember what it was called,

I loved that episode of Black Mirror (“be right back”, discussed in the article). There was a chat app a few years back — I can’t remember what it was called, but it was the hot topic for a few weeks – which was supposed to be like an AI friend that you could talk to. I installed it to see what the hubbub was about, and within 72 hours (a) it started flirting with me (I’m thinking about you ;)), and (b) I discovered that the default was to publish excerpts from your conversations, tweet-like, to “inspire” other users. What a horror show. I uninstalled it like I was holding a live spider in my hands instead of my phone. I’m embarrassed to admit that a Her-like AI is appealing to me, but my need to not have Microsoft plunging into my inner psyche is pretty intense.