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Comment by unnamed76ri | Hacker News Reader

Kudos to her for the entrepreneurship. I suspect that number will drop as copycats flood the market.

Personally, I think having to pay someone to talk to me would be just about the most depressing thing imaginable…but not quite as bad as paying a bot to talk to me.

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A friend of mine lives with a girlfriend who doesn't like him, mocks and criticizes him at every opportunity and, without a doubt, would dump him the second a better opportunity presented itself. She is unemployed, obviously, with no other income.

Given the choice, I'd take the bot 100%

Bot or not, the solution seems to leave this girlfriend who seems to not care about him, and most probably seek assistance from a psychologist to take care of whatever damage this seemingly toxic relationship has probably done.

There might be something she can give him that a chatbot can't.

She's basically personal prostitute at this point.

It sounds like my girlfriend as well.

Then you actually could provide the most perspective here. I understand the complexities of a relationship so I'm not gonna uselessly drill on saying "then just leave her" but nether the less.

Do you feel like because of your girlfriends attitude you would find an AI girlfriend appealing? Even if there was no NSFT content? I understand as a guy sometimes a few small words of confidence in you goes a long way. If you GF finds you hobbies, work, and friends something to berated you over rather than trust you it can be a sinking feeling.

I find a non-real, non-living girlfriend, the idea of it, very very depressing.

My actual GF does indeed hate my friends, my family, and even what I am and what I stand for. Has used a lot of pejoratives towards me, especially when with her younger teen sister.

No it's not okay, I know this.

Kudos? Someone thinks of a way to take advantage of needy people, probably mentally not completely stable, and you think it's good entrepeneurship?

A fool and his money are soon parted…

Oh I sincerely wish there weren’t so many desperate people in this world looking for companionship. Generations of bad public policy and parenting among other things has led us to this point. I guess my kudos was more along the lines of thinking that her clients would most likely waste the money on some other desperate attempt to feel loved so why not have them spend money with her.

What are you talking about? It's right there in the post:

> Caryn's original intention was to provide companionship and alleviate loneliness in a non-exploitative manner

> Caryn's original intention

Excuse me for not taking an "influencer"'s stated intention seriously, especially one from the country where BS has been elevated to an art to avoid liability.

Sorry, one day I will learn that sarcasm doesn't play, here :).

Ah, sorry. I didn't get it. Perhaps if you'd added an exclamation mark before the quote or something to exaggerate it more clearly? Or perhaps my sarcasometer needs recalibration.

$1/min isn’t exploitative? For 60/hour you’re dangerously close to being able to talk to a counselor, which, let’s be honest, is probably what some of these people need.

AI GF feels a lot better than a patronizing counselor

Counselors aren’t normally patronizing. If that’s your experience with a counselor, switching to a different one is easy. Ethical counselors will even recommend someone whom might be a better fit.

An AI gf has no legal or ethical obligation to your well being or health.

Is taking advantage of stupid people really entrepreneurship?

I think in fact most, if not all entrepreneurship is just knowledge arbitrage. People don’t have the time or skill to acquire the required skills, so they just pay someone else with the expertise to perform the task for them. This realisation in itself reduced my spending considerably, because yes, it does make most business feel exploitative. The food & sex industries are prime examples: if you know how easy it is to cook your own food or find a willing partner, it seems extremely foolish to pay for it. The main thing I’m struggling with now is restricted access to resources (for example medical equipment); this amounts to mandatory “stupidity” that governmental affiliates can exploit.

Taking advantage of stupid people is the basis of many things in society.

“Elites” getting people to go fight senseless wars is another good example.

Always has been

But it is even more depressing knowing that your boyfriend speaks to AI rather than you

> I think having to pay someone to talk to me would be just about the most depressing thing imaginable

Thats like talking down to people that seek psycho therapy (aka paying someone to listen).

Not as depressing as straight up loneliness

I think we should ban it. Like, would you ever feel safe if you knew that a man sitting besides you is paying for an AI "girlfriend" to talk with him...?

Sounds too weird to gain traction, but if it does, I'll keep my distance.

In what ways would a person paying for AI companionship be a danger to you?

Why on earth would I possibly care? That’s probably far safer for me than if they’re intoxicated by alcohol (and that happens relatively all the time).

I am unclear how a AI "girlfriend" is more toxic or worse than an OnlyFans "girlfriend" that happens to be a real person.

The governmental apparatus it would take to bann parasocial relationships would have to be very draconian

If a single company controls a bunch of AI girlfriends which can be manipulated in order to control the minds of people, and also it is much more powerful because it can engage in private and personal conversations in an extremely low price, it can be dangerous to all of us.

tldr One company controls a lot of "girlfriends" and it's cheaper to have long private conversations.

You should probably stay awat from anything or anyone manga\anime related than. Just in case.

And why is this weird? Many people pay for escort or go to hostess clubs not to mention other forms of "business relationships".

Why are you still sitting next to him?

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