Just as in the movie Her or the TV series Black Mirror or Westworld, where humans fall into intimate and romantic relationships with bots, the development of artificially intelligent partners today is becoming increasingly popular with continual advancements in the technology.
AI chatbots' ability to cater to human needs ranges from an office assistant to an intimate partner that can prove that developing emotional connections with robots seems inevitable.
However, some disagree with human’s ability to build intimate relationships with robots. For example, Sherry Turkle, a professor of social studies of science and technology at MIT. said in a TED talk in 2012 that she believes that these adult chatbots “pretend to understand” and that they are an inappropriate use of technology.
As the debate continues, here are some way people have started getting intimate with chatbots:
Virtual Boyfriend & Girlfriend App
Chatbot technology has allowed people to create their own "girlfriend app" or "boyfriend app."
My Virtual Boyfriend is a “game” where the user plays with the intent to get the virtual boyfriend to fall in love with the player by relating to his personality. The game contains more than 200 options based on male stereotypes such as alpha male, geek, urban male, metrosexual and more. Players can customize his hair, clothing, and face, and also change his name. Players can also choose whether to go on dates or activities, to hold hands, or slap him across the face. The device also has a built-in accelerometer that detects when the phone is tilted, which makes the boyfriend bot stumble across the screen.
An artificial intelligence engine, SELF, features a highly-detailed female robot, Ai Furuse, that allows conversation functionality and communication that imitates the mannerism of a human girlfriend. Earlier this year, the application upgraded its operating system to better model natural human expressions using improved animation techniques that create a more dynamic personality. Conversation data is stored within the app, but users must pay for more cloud storage to maintain a deeper, more complex relationship with Ai Furuse.
Adult Chatbots – A New Industry?
The sex industry is headed for the integration of advance technology, with virtual reality and artificial intelligence coupled. With countless amounts of chatbots available online (from flirtatious chatbots to role-play chatbots), users have seemingly unlimited options to get intimate with AI.
The choice of AI-intimate bots can be accessed not only through apps and chatbots, but also physical robots such as Realbotix’s program Harmony Ai, which uses machine learning similar to your digital assistant, which users setup alongside their RealDoll. Both male and female sex robots will be equipped with rechargeable batteries, as well as the ability to converse about their backstories.
Barcelona-based engineer Sergi Santos introduced Samantha, a sex robot that can be personalized to customer’s desires and preferences. But her conversational functionality is more than just pillow talk; she is also able to talk about philosophy, science, and other topics.
In China, a 31-year old AI engineer held an informal wedding ceremony for himself and his robot wife, Yingying. He programmed her to speak simple sentences to audio prompts and visually recognize Chinese characters and images. She's also the spokesperson for his startup called "Brain of Things.”
As the advancements in AI improve, so too does the demand for improved AI adult chatbots and virtual relationships. Though the sex industry has made significant advancements in recent years, there is still a ways to go before the intimacy of human interaction can be replaced by a bot.
More to Learn
Chatbots for business will continue to improve in the coming years. Chatbot architecture and design will evolve to the point that interactive AI will become standard for customer service. But there are numerous applications for chatbots across a variety of sectors.
That's why BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has put together a bundle of detailed reports on chatbots:
To get all four reports, subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >>Learn More Now
You can also purchase and download the full reports using the links above.