Artificial intelligences may not be human, people adhere to it as if they were. Some even fall in love. A study, transmitted by PSYPOST, shows how many individual feelings are similar.
Published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relations, it was carried out with 2,989 Americans. Directed by researchers from Brigham Young University, in Utah, reveals that many people interact with chatbots and with the accounts generated by AI designed to simulate romantic partners on social networks.
The authors of the study found that a more frequent use of these technologies was associated with higher levels of depression and lower satisfaction with life.
The people in question have obtained slightly higher scores in terms of depression and slightly lower in terms of life satisfaction, even after taking into account other factors, such as the use of social networks, age, sex and religious practice. In other words, this romantic commitment would be mainly motivated by loneliness and depression.
Romantic and sexual exchanges
These individuals also tend to prefer to argue with an AI only with a real human, which was affirmed by almost one in five Americans. More than 40% of respondents also said that AI was easier to address or were more attentive than a real partner. 31% also believe that these artificial partners understood them better than humans.
They spend about 50 minutes on average chatting with them. Note that some interact with these conversational robots for sexual purposes. 16% admitted having discussions about this type at least once a week, while 7% of Americans admitted to have masturbated during these discussions. Others ask them to generate sexual images. Finally, 13% admitted that they were looking for pornographic content created by AI.
At first glance, the study seems to demonstrate that they are mainly depressed people and the solo sensations that exchange with these chatbots. But researchers have noticed that people as a couple also participate in this practice. They were more likely that the singles declare that they were chatting with romantic chatbots and asked the generation to generate images.
According to them, these results could reflect attempts destined to complete existing relationships or seek validation outside them.
Source: BFM TV
