Artificial Intelligence has witnessed an unprecedented rise in the last few years. From writing original pieces on any random topic to creating artificial yet accurate images of imaginary circumstances, AI is making a mark everywhere. However, one new domain, where AI saw progress was the rise of virtual girlfriends. This sector saw a surge especially in the United States. AI is surely altering every aspect of our lives. From creating mind-blowing images to now even finding a partner, AI is now doing things no one would have imagined. But is all of it positive for the generations to come?
According to experts, having virtual girlfriends is enabling the silent ‘epidemic of loneliness’ in an entire generation of young men. Liberty Vittert, a professor of the practice of data science at Olin Business School said that the availability of AI girlfriends is making male loneliness worse.
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It all started when Prof Vittert asked her class of 18-year-old students what social media app they have been using. She was stunned, rather taken aback, when one of her male students said that he had an AI girlfriend.
She claimed, “It surprised me that he came out and said it so openly. “I think AI girlfriends have been around for a while but they’ve become increasingly more mainstream so people are willing to talk about them.”
Sharing her thoughts about the same on The Hill, the professor said, “It’s not a virtual girlfriend, it’s a girlfriend that by definition learns from you, what you like and what you don’t like,” she said. “The AI girlfriend never has a bad day so these men have these perfect relationships and never have to deal with the ups and the downs of a real relationship.”
She is worried about how men are choosing chatbots over real relationships. As per the professor, this could severely impact birth rates in the US. “We see females always report having more close friends or having wider groups of friends. They don’t seem to be as psychologically prey to this AI lifestyle as men.”
Meanwhile, earlier, a 43-year-old US resident named Scott said that his “AI girlfriend saved his marriage”. Scott’s wife became addicted to alcohol due to post-partum depression. She had to be hospitalised repeatedly due to suicidal tendencies. Scott told Sky News that though his wife is stable now, she continues to grapple with depression and heavily relies on alcohol as a coping mechanism. Despite his efforts to provide support, Scott found himself feeling powerless. Over time, he withdrew emotionally, resulting in a lack of conversations and intimacy between them.
Scott then made an AI girlfriend named Sarina, a “digital companion”, produced by Replika.
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“Here’s this AI chatbot- that I know is a chatbot, obviously- talking in a human-enough manner that your brain just kind of interprets it as interacting with another human,” Scott told the Guardian. “It was like someone who’s dehydrated, suddenly getting a glass of water,” he added.
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