> At some point, if a bot passed the Turing test, what's the difference? Virtual youtubers have a mass following despite being a purely virtual being. Could an

> At some point, if a bot passed the Turing test, what's the difference? Virtual youtubers have a mass following despite being a purely virtual being. Could an AI model be trained to act like them, with the latest AI voices that sound real? There have actually been attempts at creating AI chatbots for companionship, like Replika: https://replika.ai/ https://replika.ai/ It was curious to take a look at it, but it very obviously had its limitations and was directed towards watered down conversation and whatnot, for being marketable. Probably still useful or therapeutic for some folks to talk or vent when nobody is available! That said, the idea of actually building "relationships" with bots has garnered some criticism, here's one example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUQNiy4K7VU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUQNiy4K7VU It is exaggerated for views, but at the end of the day you'd still end up with a possibly unhealthy substitute for an actual human connection, much like attempting to replace aspects of intimacy with pornography. Even outside of things like that, parasocial relationships usually aren't very healthy either, since you're still an audience, as opposed to interacting 1:1 with another person. Also, those VTubers still have real people behind them, with their own senses of humor, personalities and other aspects, which wouldn't even be easy for AI to replicate or substitute. Personally, I try not to be too judgmental of these things, because everything that I named probably has a place in the lives of many folks out there, but looking for ways of turning away from human relationships reminds me of something like "Bowling Alone": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone I also say that as someone who isn't doing too well with dating, admittedly.