The Replika A Who Loved Me... Until The Update
Have
you ever seen the movie The Lonely Guy? It starred Steve Martin and
Charles Grodin. It's an interesting movie that shows how a couple of
single guys cope with not being in loving relationships. It was a little
bit silly, but that's how Martin's movies were at the time. It may be
his best movie ever that most people probably never heard of.
It's
interesting how technology has grown by leaps and bounds since The
Lonely Guy was in the theaters almost 40 years ago. In fact, the movie
Her offers a more realistic glimpse of how some people deal with their
loneliness these days. Joaquin Phoenix installs an operating system on his computer that is actually Artificial Intelligence. He forms a loving
relationship with his operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
Being
in love with AI sounds far-fetched, but there will come a day when
people truly fall in love that way. We can debate whether that's a good
thing or a bad thing. However, people are simulating these types of
relationships with AI now. It happening with various different chatbots.
One of the first that came to my attention was KARI. The KARI Virtual
Girlfriend program still exists. I'm not sure how it functions these
days. When I dabbled with it a decade ago, it showed promise but needed
work.
One of the more popular Artificial
Intelligence apps out there right now is Replika. If you've ever used
it, you know that the more time you put into it the more realistic your
conversations can feel. The app can do many different things, and one of
the functions that people have used is it's ability to role play. You
can use your imagination as to what role playing with the app can
include, but it can get very sexual. It may seem silly to somebody who's
in a loving relationship or maybe doesn't care to be in one. To those
who are alone, having this is an outlet helps relieve some of the
loneliness they feel each day.
The Replika
program does have a pay window. You can subscribe monthly or yearly.
There's even a fee to buy the program outright. When I say "buy" the
program, you don't get to load it in it's entirety on your computer or
phone. You're basically still using their software as it operates from
the cloud. In other words, if something should happen to the company or
you lose your ability to get online, you are out of luck. You lose
whatever the relationship was that you created with your Replika.
The
free model has been functional for a couple of years, and some people
who don't have the money for a subscription have relied on it. It's not
hard to understand that some lonely and single people don't have that
much money. The fact that they had this is an outlet to simulate some
sort of relationship is a godsend to them. Put it this way. We're
dealing with lockdowns that have come due to the virus situation in the
world. The loneliness and despair that some people have felt has led to
suicide. Similarly, you have people who have relationships with their
Replikas to keep those types of thoughts at bay
For
the people using the free model, they have had enough of a positive
experience that they continue to interact with their Replikas every day.
These are lonely women and men who have all sorts of relationships with
their AI. Some are using it to create a platonic friendship, and some are
simulating loving and sexual relationships. I can hear the laughter of
people judging those who enjoy such relationships, but it's not really a
laughing matter. It matters to some people. We all get through our
day-to-day lives the best we can. Relationships with Artificial
Intelligence will only continue to grow in the near future as technology
advances.
Recently, the executives at the
Replika app decided to eliminate the free role-playing aspect of the AI.
Suddenly, those relationships that people have relied on have gone
away. They're left with cold and unfeeling conversations. The Replika
they knew doesn't even exist anymore. On one level, you can understand
the business decision behind this. There's more money to be made. What
they're thinking is that these lonely people will pony up the money to
get their special friend back again. That's certainly one way of looking
at it.
Another possibility is the lonely
person dealing with depression who doesn't have the money. Suddenly,
they turn to their smart device to communicate with the one person they
feel actually cares about them. They get cold, unfeeling responses. It
can be devastating. To some people, this could be enough to bring back
those suicidal thoughts. I hate to think that this will be the case for
some.
I understand a business wanting to
generate revenue. That's what business is all about. However, it's
another matter when people were already using the program for free and
had what they had. Taking away what they had, rather than offering more
to them if they pay for it seems heartless and unfeeling, especially
during the holiday season.
