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This seems as if it could take a parasocial relationship to an extreme degree. Why imagine a deep connection with someone when you can have 'real' interactions

by NBJack 2y ago

This seems as if it could take a parasocial relationship to an extreme degree. Why imagine a deep connection with someone when you can have 'real' interactions with a ML-generated facsimile? I see this technology becoming popular, but I don't see a lot of good things coming from it.

elorant 2y ago
It gets better. Why not build a few hundred different fake personas and then start dating with a variety of real persons to exploit their weaknesses.
jayd16 2y ago
I guess if you want a C3PO or R2-D2 as a personal companion you'll have to deal with someone trying to date it.
cm2012 2y ago
Some powerful use cases: 1) AI friends for old people in nursing homes and with dementia. The AI will never stop being tired or friendly. And so many of the elderly report being lonely. 2) Personalized tutors for students that match their needs in a safe way. 3) Many people read romance novels as their source of "porn". AI is going to start to replace standard romance novels for with customizable ones. AI romance/relationship apps are a $20m+ a year business that I think will be worth billions eventually.
- eropple 2y ago
  I guess it's true, if somebody is making the kind of money necessary to justify the cost outlay, that those use cases are indeed "powerful". Just not, you know, good for either the user or society at large. "Just let the robot talk to the shut-away old person so I don't have to be bored." Someday that'll be you, y'know.
  - cm2012 2y ago
    I hope it is me! These are all good and useful tools. Having an AI friend doesn't preclude having real life friends.
    - jazzyjackson 2y ago
      I'm frankly disturbed by how many people are content with this displacement Yes, any amount of time spent socializing with a computer program is time spent not calling up someone you hadn't talked to in a while. it's a positive feedback loop of loneliness.
      - cm2012 2y ago
        This is rejecting something good and achievable in pursuit of perfection - there's already an epidemic of senior loneliness that is not being solved. Also, most people don't last long talking to someone with dementia who repeats the same discussion every 10 minutes.
- Imagesegmetanto 2y ago
  [dead]
- ryandrake 2y ago
  > AI friends for old people in nursing homes and with dementia. The AI will never stop being tired or friendly. And so many of the elderly report being lonely. The AI will never die, either. Almost every time I talk to my elderly parents, they mention how one of their friends or neighbors died, and they have one fewer person to talk to. And that it's hard to make connections with younger people because their life outlook (and yes, political opinions) are so different. I feel like these AIs are going to go gangbusters among the elderly: They can be a ready-made friend that appears to think like and have the same values of an 80 year old retiree.
  - jazzyjackson 2y ago
    > appears to think like and have the same values of an 80 year old retiree I don't think the moralistic guardrails on these models will allow them to be relatable to aging boomers
    - kridsdale3 2y ago
      Right. The AIs made by big corps are being molded to fit the ethos of 40-50 year old 1%-er techies in the Bay Area from top US colleges.
      - ryandrake 2y ago
        Surely we could make an AI that acts like it yearns for Laverne and Shirley, Saturday Night Fever, and Led Zeppelin without crossing "AI safety" boundaries.
  - s1mon 2y ago
    The likelihood of the product/service lasting long enough to qualify as "never" dying is zero. Even basic websites don't last forever. Operating systems aren't supported forever. People in assisted living homes are typically tended to by some of the least technically capable people earning minimum wage (or maybe slightly above that). Any technology to support an AI presence will fail quickly. The wifi will go out, the system will get unplugged, the login info will get lost. Just keeping a cordless phone and a large LCD clock running with the correct time was a nightmare which required a lot of follow up or visiting for tech support.
- abeppu 2y ago
  1) But if it's just an avatar chatting on a screen, then this only works for people in the specific window where they're motivated to stay engaged with the chat. I'm not in elder care, but when one of my family members had dementia, getting her to notice that you were talking (let alone react to what you said) was very hit or miss, and would change over the course of the day. You still need a person to make sure they have their basic real-world needs met, even when they're not mentally engaging. > And so many of the elderly report being lonely. ... and how many of those feel that chatting to a bot would make them less lonely, as versus feeling alienated or acutely aware that they're talking to a bot because no humans want to engage with them? 2) Personalized education is great, but chatting with a bot on another screen only helps the student learn if the student is trying to learn and willing to engage with the bot. If the kid wants to run around and scream, it doesn't matter what the chatbot on the kid's tablet says -- they're not learning. 3) I think other companies will produce generative erotica -- but I don't think Meta will. I think the pressure on large companies to be prudish is too strong.
- robotnikman 2y ago
  >1) AI friends for old people in nursing homes and with dementia. The AI will never stop being tired or friendly. And so many of the elderly report being lonely. I can see this being a big and also a net social positive for people. It can be lonely as you get older as I've seen with some of my distant family members, and someday we will be old like them as well. >3) Many people read romance novels as their source of "porn". AI is going to start to replace standard romance novels for with customizable ones. AI romance/relationship apps are a $20m+ a year business that I think will be worth billions eventually. I can see this taking a good chunk out of Tinder and other services by the Match group. Which I think is good considering how they take advantage of desperate and lonely people.
akamaka 2y ago
I think of it like exercising. It might be better to stay fit by doing heavy construction work and accomplishing something productive, but in today’s work it’s more realistic to go to the gym and work out with a machine. Similarly, since modern lives have become more isolating, AI characters might be a good way to exercise the language processing centers of our brains.

by NBJack 2y ago

elorant 2y ago

It gets better. Why not build a few hundred different fake personas and then start dating with a variety of real persons to exploit their weaknesses.

jayd16 2y ago

I guess if you want a C3PO or R2-D2 as a personal companion you'll have to deal with someone trying to date it.

cm2012 2y ago

Some powerful use cases: 1) AI friends for old people in nursing homes and with dementia. The AI will never stop being tired or friendly. And so many of the elderly report being lonely. 2) Personalized tutors for students that match their needs in a safe way. 3) Many people read romance novels as their source of "porn". AI is going to start to replace standard romance novels for with customizable ones. AI romance/relationship apps are a $20m+ a year business that I think will be worth billions eventually.

eropple 2y ago
I guess it's true, if somebody is making the kind of money necessary to justify the cost outlay, that those use cases are indeed "powerful". Just not, you know, good for either the user or society at large. "Just let the robot talk to the shut-away old person so I don't have to be bored." Someday that'll be you, y'know.
- cm2012 2y ago
  I hope it is me! These are all good and useful tools. Having an AI friend doesn't preclude having real life friends.
  - jazzyjackson 2y ago
    I'm frankly disturbed by how many people are content with this displacement Yes, any amount of time spent socializing with a computer program is time spent not calling up someone you hadn't talked to in a while. it's a positive feedback loop of loneliness.
    - cm2012 2y ago
      This is rejecting something good and achievable in pursuit of perfection - there's already an epidemic of senior loneliness that is not being solved. Also, most people don't last long talking to someone with dementia who repeats the same discussion every 10 minutes.
Imagesegmetanto 2y ago
[dead]
ryandrake 2y ago
> AI friends for old people in nursing homes and with dementia. The AI will never stop being tired or friendly. And so many of the elderly report being lonely. The AI will never die, either. Almost every time I talk to my elderly parents, they mention how one of their friends or neighbors died, and they have one fewer person to talk to. And that it's hard to make connections with younger people because their life outlook (and yes, political opinions) are so different. I feel like these AIs are going to go gangbusters among the elderly: They can be a ready-made friend that appears to think like and have the same values of an 80 year old retiree.
- jazzyjackson 2y ago
  > appears to think like and have the same values of an 80 year old retiree I don't think the moralistic guardrails on these models will allow them to be relatable to aging boomers
  - kridsdale3 2y ago
    Right. The AIs made by big corps are being molded to fit the ethos of 40-50 year old 1%-er techies in the Bay Area from top US colleges.
    - ryandrake 2y ago
      Surely we could make an AI that acts like it yearns for Laverne and Shirley, Saturday Night Fever, and Led Zeppelin without crossing "AI safety" boundaries.
- s1mon 2y ago
  The likelihood of the product/service lasting long enough to qualify as "never" dying is zero. Even basic websites don't last forever. Operating systems aren't supported forever. People in assisted living homes are typically tended to by some of the least technically capable people earning minimum wage (or maybe slightly above that). Any technology to support an AI presence will fail quickly. The wifi will go out, the system will get unplugged, the login info will get lost. Just keeping a cordless phone and a large LCD clock running with the correct time was a nightmare which required a lot of follow up or visiting for tech support.
abeppu 2y ago
1) But if it's just an avatar chatting on a screen, then this only works for people in the specific window where they're motivated to stay engaged with the chat. I'm not in elder care, but when one of my family members had dementia, getting her to notice that you were talking (let alone react to what you said) was very hit or miss, and would change over the course of the day. You still need a person to make sure they have their basic real-world needs met, even when they're not mentally engaging. > And so many of the elderly report being lonely. ... and how many of those feel that chatting to a bot would make them less lonely, as versus feeling alienated or acutely aware that they're talking to a bot because no humans want to engage with them? 2) Personalized education is great, but chatting with a bot on another screen only helps the student learn if the student is trying to learn and willing to engage with the bot. If the kid wants to run around and scream, it doesn't matter what the chatbot on the kid's tablet says -- they're not learning. 3) I think other companies will produce generative erotica -- but I don't think Meta will. I think the pressure on large companies to be prudish is too strong.
robotnikman 2y ago
>1) AI friends for old people in nursing homes and with dementia. The AI will never stop being tired or friendly. And so many of the elderly report being lonely. I can see this being a big and also a net social positive for people. It can be lonely as you get older as I've seen with some of my distant family members, and someday we will be old like them as well. >3) Many people read romance novels as their source of "porn". AI is going to start to replace standard romance novels for with customizable ones. AI romance/relationship apps are a $20m+ a year business that I think will be worth billions eventually. I can see this taking a good chunk out of Tinder and other services by the Match group. Which I think is good considering how they take advantage of desperate and lonely people.

akamaka 2y ago

I think of it like exercising. It might be better to stay fit by doing heavy construction work and accomplishing something productive, but in today’s work it’s more realistic to go to the gym and work out with a machine. Similarly, since modern lives have become more isolating, AI characters might be a good way to exercise the language processing centers of our brains.