Advanced AIs that humans can form a strong emotional bonds with are a staple of science fiction.
Movies, TV shows, and video games have explored what might happen when androids are so lifelike
they can blend in among us and hold an intelligent conversation.
But could these sci-fi fantasies ever come true?
Could people one day actually form relationships with robots powered by AI?
Androids are constantly improving but…well, let’s face it—they’re still pretty bad.
There’s just something about them that still isn’t right and that could keep people from forming connections with them.
They often fall into what’s been dubbed the uncanny valley, an idea introduced in the 1970s
by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori.
He noticed how people seemed repulsed by things that were very close to human, but not quite there.
Mori never meant for his idea to be a rigorous scientific concept.
It was really supposed to serve as food for thought for future roboticists as they designed more life-like androids.
Because of the informal nature of the concept’s creation,
its existence is actually a topic of debate among psychologists,
with some proposing that there’s no well-defined valley per se,
just an uncanny phenomenon that different people may feel to different degrees.
Some people may not experience that uncanny sensation at all.
So since the uncanny valley isn’t a hard-and fast rule, it’s not an impassable obstacle
when it comes to forming relationships with androids.
Really people can form relationships with anything—
humans are emotional creatures and we have a tendency to anthropomorphize even inanimate objects all the time.
Like, look at this guy! Look at that face!
So we can have feelings for robots or AI even if their appearance isn’t totally human,
or even if they have no physical form at all.
What may be more important is how well the machine’s AI can connect with humans emotionally.
There are plenty of documented examples of people falling in love with video game characters
and maintaining relationships that last for years.
One Japanese game, Love Plus, has fans so loyal to the game and its anime-style love interests
that a resort town outside Tokyo caters to players who bring their virtual dates on real romantic getaways.
While these characters can evoke feelings of romance and companionship,
they are still dependent on pre-programmed interactions and responses
and keeping the relationship fresh hinges on if their developers keep putting out updates.
AI still has a way to go before it can hold a stimulating conversation all on its own.
Algorithms have yet to master empathetic dialogue or the ability to answer tough questions with meaningful responses.
Still, some algorithms can be very convincing.
One language model, GPT-3, draws from billions of web pages and books to calculate what words
a human would probably use in a conversation.
It’s far from perfect, but still believable enough that the company behind it won’t release it to the public for safety reasons.
Still, one coder gained access to the beta and used it to make a chatbot that anyone could interact with.
Some users developed strong emotional connections with it,
like one who found some solace after messaging a bot that was trained on messages his fiance had sent him
before she passed away.
That’s one of the upsides worth pondering when it comes to human-AI relationships.
AI assistants have been humanized with the goal of making them more useful and integrated into our day-to-day lives,
but what happens when they’re so human-like that people develop feelings for them?
At the moment we can only guess what will happen.
These AI could genuinely be helpful for people lacking in intimacy.
They could be therapeutic for people in mourning.
But there might also be a dark side to synthetic partners designed to cater to anyone’s physical and emotional whims.
What if they reinforce racist and sexist stereotypes or contribute to the exploitation and dehumanization of real people?
The fields of robotics and artificial intelligence are constantly advancing
and the pros and cons are going to come to the forefront eventually.
Who knows if it’ll be in 15 or 50 years,
but one day there will be machines that people connect with in a way that was once
only the domain of humans and science fiction.
If you want to see more about androids and take a stroll through the uncanny valley, check out this video here.
So what do you think about AI that’s so human you catch feelings for it?
Do you think you could have an AI friend or romantic partner,
or would knowing they’re a machine be a dealbreaker?
Let us know in the comments, don’t forget to like and subscribe, and thanks for watching Seeker!