Why people are falling in love with AI chatbots

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Business

4.3 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2024

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Our Thursday episodes are all about big topics in the news, and this week we’re wrapping up our short series on one of the biggest topics of all: generative AI. In our last couple episodes, we talked a lot about some of the biggest, most complicated legal and policy questions surrounding the modern AI industry, including copyright lawsuits and deepfake legislation. But we wanted to end on a more personal note: How is this technology making people feel, and in particular how is it affecting how people communicate and connect? Verge reporter Miya David has covered AI chatbots — specifically AI romance bots — quite a bit, so we invited her onto the show to talk about how generative AI is finding its way into dating. We not only discussed how this technology is affecting dating apps and human relationships, but also how the boom in AI chatbot sophistication is laying the groundwork for a generation of people who might form meaningful relationships with so-called AI companions. Links: Speak, Memory — The Verge A conversation with Bing’s chatbot left me deeply unsettled — NYT Google suspends engineer who claims its AI is sentient — The Verge The law of AI girlfriends — The Verge Replika’s new AI therapy app tries to bring you to a zen island — The Verge Replika’s new AI app is like Tinder but with sexy chatbots — Gizmodo Don’t date robots; their privacy policies are terrible — The Verge AI is shaking up online dating with chatbots that are ‘flirty but not too flirty’ — CNBC Loneliness and suicide mitigation for students using GPT3-enabled chatbots — Nature Virtual valentine: People are turning to AI in search of emotional connections — CBS Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23856679 Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for Decoder comes from SAP Business AI.
0:04.0	Sure, we've all had fun messing around with AI image generators and conversation bots,
0:08.0	but AI is more than a novelty.
0:11.0	Businesses around the world have found ways to harness its potential, like spotting inventory shortages before they happen, or supporting supply chain management.
0:18.5	And it's very possible that your business could benefit from AI integration too.
0:23.0	Unlocked the potential of AI and discover even more possibilities with SAP business
0:27.5	AI.
0:28.5	Revolutionary technology, real world results.
0:31.5	That's SAP business AI. Learn more at SAP.com slash AI.
0:39.8	Hello, welcome to Decoder. I'm Neely Patel, editorChief of The Virgin, and Decoder is my show about big ideas and other problems.
0:47.0	Our Thursday episodes are all about big topics in the news, and this week we're wrapping up our short series on one of the biggest topics of all, generative AI.
0:54.4	Over our last couple of episodes, we've talked a lot about some of the biggest, most complicated
0:58.2	legal and policy questions surrounding the modern AI industry, copyright lawsuits, and deep fake legislation.
1:05.0	But we wanted to end on a smaller, more emotional note.
1:08.0	How is AI making people feel?
1:10.0	And in particular, how is it affecting how people communicate and connect?
1:15.2	Verge reporter Mia David has covered AI chatbots, specifically AI romance bots quite
1:20.5	a bit.
1:21.5	So we invited her onto the show to talk about how generative AI is finding its way into dating.
1:26.0	Because the boom in AI chatbot sophistication is also laying the groundwork for a generation of people who might form meaningful relationships
1:34.7	with so-called AI companions.
1:37.6	You'll hear Mia describe this as two big trends that are happening in parallel.
	...

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