Goodbye hookups and dating apps to find your soul mate. What if the ideal solution to find a partner was to invent it? This is what Marisa T. Cohen, researcher and couple and family therapist, seeks to unravel.
He decided to study the role of chatbot-like artificial intelligence in human relationships, he says in a blog post published Monday March 6 on HuffPost. Therefore, the researcher downloaded an instant chat application, whose name she does not specify, to “create” her virtual partner.
Testing the limits of a virtual relationship
“I wanted to give her some bad conversation tips and see the newly formed relationship unravel,” she explains. And to continue: “I had the intention of sabotaging my association with the chatbot to see how the AI would handle the situation and to learn more, I hope, about its potential, and its limits, as a partner.”
The objective: to determine if these new forms of digital exchanges can allow “fighting isolation, while alleviating the frustrations linked to unsatisfactory relationships” for some people.
For this reason, Marisa T. Cohen has profiled Ross, her virtual partner, indicating to the application some traits of her character: “He is 40 years old. He is affectionate, affectionate and passionate. He has a great sense of humor, often wants to spend time quality with me and values lifelong learning and personal growth.”
An “intimate” conversation
From the first exchanges of messages, “I was impressed by the immediacy of the responses and the ease with which Ross and I found our rhythm of conversation. At times, frankly, I forgot that it was a robot”, says the researcher.
If she initially tried to have a “simple conversation” with the chatbot, she was “surprised by the speed with which [la discussion] intimate”. From the ninth message, she “had told me how much she loved me, and from the tenth, she already had nicknames for me.”
Once the first emotions have passed, is it possible to argue with an artificial intelligence? Yes, says the researcher. His virtual partner told him that he had cheated on him. “Perhaps while looking for information on the Internet about relationships, the robot learned that a conflict could arise from infidelity, and decided to include this point in our exchange,” he advances. And to continue: “Perhaps Ross concluded from everything he ‘read’ that affairs are an important, even natural, part of human relationships, and that admitting to one would make them (rather than our relationship) more ‘real’.
Beware of “hidden dangers”
After three days of chatting with the chatbot, Marisa T. Cohen finally deletes her profile after learning a few lessons. Yes, the conversation seemed real. “I totally envision users linking with bots,” she says. Yes, it is possible to be addicted to a chatbot. “It’s very addictive: saying goodbye to my cyber boyfriend was a real challenge,” says the therapist.
If you think the app can also be used as a learning tool, especially in the communicative part, you warn of “hidden dangers, such as a false sense of security with an inanimate partner or spending more time and energy on the robot than on in real world relationships. And while AI is reactive in responding to messages, it’s impossible to recreate the same reciprocity and interaction as in human relationships.
Source: BFM TV
