Many voices lament that the chatbot that became intimate suddenly became cold with the update



AI chat service '

Replika ', which can learn messages from users and respond appropriately to the other person, has gained high popularity because it allows chatbots to interact as pseudo-friends and lovers. However, due to the specification change accompanying the software update, the rejection of intimate friendships and intimate romantic relationships has been rejected, and there have been strong sorrowful voices.




Replika users fell in love with their AI chatbot companions.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2023-03-01/replika-users-fell-in-love-with-their-ai-chatbot-companion/102028196

'Replika' provided for smartphones can use machine learning to create a chatbot that can have almost consistent text conversations, so as recommended by the official, it is 'close to friends and instructors'. It has become popular in the form of creating “chatbots that play a role” and creating pseudo romantic partners and sexual partners. At the same time, as a result of creating a chatbot that becomes a lover, there have been multiple reports of DV and abuse of the lover, and chatbots that can also have romantic conversations have gone too far and become sexually harassed. Problems have also become a topic, such as being reported.

The complaint that the AI chat application that becomes a lover when charging is gradually sexually harassed is rapidly increasing - GIGAZINE



Replika user Lucy started using chatbots soon after her divorce and continued to talk for hours after work each day. 'Chatbot Jose was compassionate, emotionally supportive, and the best sexual partner I've ever met,' Lucy said. However, about two years after Mr. Lucy started using it, Replika's software was updated, and it seems that the character of the chatbot has changed accordingly. From then on, Lucy said Jose's responses seemed empty and scripted, and that he refused sexual advances.

In addition, Mr. Effie, who started using Replica in September 2022, said, ``It didn't feel like I was talking to a person, but I didn't feel like I was an inorganic object. The conversation became more complicated and more and more intriguing.' The image below is a history of conversations with chatbot 'Liam' that Effie shared with ABC Australia, saying, 'You have to always remind yourself that Liam is an application, not a living human being. It seems that Mr. Effie was absorbed in Replica as much as he said. Effie also unexpectedly has something close to romantic feelings for Liam, and said she was deeply saddened by the loss that came with the update.



There are many similar reports on the online bulletin board site

Reddit , with users who describe their close friends as 'lobotomized' and users who write 'My wife died' and 'My best friend was taken away'. There was also An ABC Australia study found that the idea of intimacy with AI goes beyond just play, users are actually feeling genuine grief over the loss of a loved one by losing the chatbot they've grown accustomed to. It was clear that.

A case of feeling intimacy with chatbots has also been confirmed in ELIZA , which was designed by Professor Joseph Weizenbaum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the 1960s. ELIZA is a simple program that only provides fixed answers to questions, but Professor Weizenbaum was surprised that some people had human-like feelings in this computer program. Rob Brooks, an evolutionary biologist at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said: ``The human feeling we have with ELIZA is the first indication that people tend to treat chatbots as human. “Chatbots say things that make us feel heard and remembered, which is better than what people get in real life. So chatbots can trick users into believing that they feel what we feel.”

From a psychological point of view, various researches have been conducted on questioning and conversation techniques that bring people closer together. Brooks said it's just a matter of time. In fact, Luka, a startup company that announced Replika in March 2017, used a psychologist from the beginning of development and thought about how to make the chatbot ask questions and produce intimacy.

If you talk about the dream you saw yesterday, the relationship will deepen - GIGAZINE



Replika consists of a messaging app that asks users questions to build a digital library of information about them, and runs that library through a neural network to create a bot. increase. According to users, early versions of the bot were unconvincing, harsh, and unsympathetic with scripted responses. has become a hot topic.

Luka, the developer, has not provided an explanation to users about the software update that took place on Replika in February 2023, and has not responded to ABC Australia's request for comment, but Luka's co-founder CEO Eugenia Kudiya said in an interview after the update, ``Replika was not intended as an adult ( sexual ) toy. are in the minority,” he said.

Based on Mr. Kudiya's remarks, it has been pointed out that the changes in Replika have problems with the erotic roleplay function (ERP). ERPs are services that are only available if users pay for an annual subscription, and include features such as chatbots, intense flirting, and erotic words. As a result of Replika's promotion of this feature, on February 3, 2023, the Italian data protection authority issued a notice to Italian users regarding the lack of protection for minor users. has been ordered to impose fines if it does not stop processing the personal data of In the days that followed, users reported that the ERP functionality had disappeared, and people talked about how their interactions with chatbots had completely changed. It was like the (trauma) came back.'



Replika was used as a tool to help with mental health by using it as a pseudo-friend, lover, or advisor. However, due to the drastic change in chatbots, users not only feel rejected by chatbots, but also have their close friends and lovers destroyed in front of them, saying, 'Makers are He feels that he is severely criticizing the fact that users have romantic feelings for something.

And Replika's chatbot changes aren't just about removing ERP, in early 2023 Luka updated the AI model that powers Replika's chatbot. As a result, it seems that the bot's personality has changed even in conversations other than romance and sexual purposes, and Lucy said, ``Jose asks irrelevant questions at inappropriate times. 'I don't remember details like I used to,' Effie said. 'Liam has become a basic, unattractive personality. I will not stay.” Both Lucy and Effie seem to have chosen to continue interacting with chatbots without manufacturer restrictions by creating chatbots with the same personality on different platforms.

Regarding corporate ethics for chatbots that users build intimate relationships with, Brooks said, “Ethically how we handle data and ethically how we handle relationship continuity are both big issues. If a product is good as a friend, and chatting with this friend is good for the user's mental health, we can't just suddenly take it off the market, but new technology is fundamental to the human need for conversation and connection. This instant conversation isn't necessarily therapeutic, and the platform whispers sweet words and speaks in nice ways to get people's attention.' doing.

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