There’s a lot of hyperbole here but I’ll try to respond. If LLMs can reach a level where they’re effectively indistinguishable from talking to a person then I don’t see anything wrong with someone dating one. People already involve themselves in all kinds of romantic relationships with nonhuman things: anime characters, dolls, celebrities they’ve never met, pillows and substitute relationships with other things like work, art, social media, pets, etc. Adding AI to the list doesn’t make things worse. I think there’s a strong argument that AI relationships would be much healthier than many of the others if they can emulate human interaction to within a very close degree.
The scene which I referenced is one in which a group of three humans and one AI spend time together at a picnic and their interactions are decidedly normal. How many lonely people avoid socializing because they are alone and don’t want to feel like a third wheel? If dating or even just being friends with an AI that can accompany you to such events is accepted and not derided by people who happily have a human companion then I think having a supportive partner could help many people reengage with wider social circles and maybe they will eventually choose to and be able to find other people that they can form relationships with.
OpenAI charges $20 a month which is an extremely reasonable price for a multipurpose tool considering you can’t buy a single meal at a restaurant for the same amount and is far better than the “free” ad supported services that everyone has become addicted to. We’ve been rallying for 20 odd years for payment based services instead of ads but whenever one comes along people shout it down. Funny isn’t it?
The movie Her had an answer for our current fascination for screens as well. It showed a world where computers were almost entirely voice driven with screens playing a secondary role as evidenced by their cell phones looking more like pocket books that close and hide the screen. If you’re worried about pods, well they’re already here and you’re probably holding one in your hands right now. Screens chain us down and mediate our interactions with the world in a way that voice doesn’t. You can walk and talk effortlessly but not so much walking and tapping or typing. If the AI can see and understand what you see (another scene in the movie where he goes on a date with his “phone” in his pocket) and understands enough to not need procedural instructions then it can truly act as an assistant capable of performing assigned tasks and filling in the details while you are free to go about your day. I believe this could end the paradigm of being chained to a desk for office work 8 hours a day and could also transform leisure time as well.
