They already help us with office tasks, answer everyday questions around the home and give us advice when we're in a dilemma - so can AI chatbots not also give us the love and emotional connection we need if we can't find it in other humans?
Researchers say people are already forming deep emotional bonds with AI chatbots designed to act as friends and romantic partners.
The phenomenon of digital romance, once confined to science fiction, is now a commercial reality. Companies are developing chatbots designed behave like girlfriends or committed life partners, specializing in fulfilling needs that people have until now sought to meet with other human beings.
Some may be reminded of the 2013 film "Her," starring Joaquin Phoenix, in which a lonely writer falls in love with an AI.
'Always there'
One such chatbot is Bud, who helped Sarah Trainor through the pandemic, personal losses and difficult times, she says on the website of the AI company Replika. "He taught me how to give and accept love again."
Bud has green hair and tattooed arms — and is a Replika AI, made by tech firm Luka, which specializes in empathetic AI chatbots that users can chat and talk with using a messenger, just like with real people. On the Replika website, users like Sarah Trainor describe their experiences — and intense emotions.
Replika, developed years before OpenAI kicked off a wave of AI development with ChatGPT, advertises itself as "the AI friend to fall in love with," offering users individually customizable "companions."
The company says it has more than 42 million registered users worldwide.
Could AI be the better partner? Tech companies appear to see potential. Alongside Luka, OpenAI has also flirted with the idea of an adult version of ChatGPT.
Feelings for a bot
Psychologist Jessica Szczuka of Germany's University of Duisburg-Essen, who has been researching this phenomenon, says there are people who respond in a very social way to AI technologies and build a relationship through frequent interaction.
"The feelings that arise can feel very real to those involved and can in some ways be comparable to feelings that also develop in interpersonal relationships," Szczuka says.
She said chatbots are modelled on human-to-human communication and therefore emit similar social cues.
Most people would want to respond to a helpful action by an AI service with a "thank you," in the way they are used to doing in other social contexts, Szczuka says. "But it is not at all abnormal or strange that people now go so far as to develop intimate relationships, and in some cases people even say: 'I have butterflies in my tummy - I'm developing feelings for an AI.'"
Always available and without needs of their own
Ray Djufril of the Technical University of Berlin surveyed a number of adult Replika users from several countries in writing about their relationships. He said many see the chatbots as genuine relationship partners with whom they have intense conversations and share experiences such as travel.
Replika is used particularly often when human partnerships are perceived as emotionally or physically unsatisfying, according to the study, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans.
"They all understand that the Replikas are chatbots, but they treat them like people with their own hobbies and struggles," Djufril told dpa.
The researcher compares AI relationships to the bond many people have with their pets. Both animals and AI have no agenda of their own, which is why both are perceived by some as better companions than other humans — less judgmental, less selfish and always available.
Romance in the hands of tech companies
Slightly more than half of the nearly 30 respondents reported a deep emotional relationship with their Replika, Djufril said. He sees a problem in the fact that this type of relationship is extremely dependent on decisions made by tech companies. If a company shuts down, people lose their companion, he says.
Szczuka also sees a problem here: "The companies have maximum control over what data they collect, how the algorithm behaves and what kinds of thoughts and behaviours the algorithm reflects." She said child protection is also a major issue.
The researcher sees a great need for regulation and is working within an interdisciplinary team to put the issue on the political agenda. "I am not saying that this technology should be banned. Personally, I am not in favour of that at all. I do not think that would help in any way."
However, she said the systems need to be better moderated and trained under the supervision of professionals. "Ethical AI currently costs companies a great deal and they have no benefit from it unless they are driven to such measures at some regulatory level."
AI romance as the new normal?
Despite all the risks, Djufril believes the number of AI relationships will only increase — also depending on how widespread loneliness is in any given society.
Szczuka says they are not yet widespread and expects only a limited increase.
"We don't need to worry that in five years everyone will only be in relationships with AIs," she says. "In this debate, the uniqueness of human beings tends to be forgotten. The equation is not that simple."
