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Comment by laurent_du | Hacker News Reader

Eventually, a virtual girlfriend app that will put together sound and image will be released an empty the pockets of sad, lonely men on a large scale. Depressing stuff but this is the world we live in. Thank you to the author for this interesting read.

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That would be almost exactly Replika, right? I don't think that was really the intent of the creators - their original vision seems similar to OP's - and they apparently confirmed as much when they restricted its use for 'erotic content' last year . But the screeching anguish from their community (still visible in the history on their subreddit) resulted in a quick pivot back towards NSFW capabilities. I think there was some coverage of it on HN at the time, because the Replika AI is frankly pretty primitive, but passionate users became deeply connected to "their" partners, and it raises questions about what's going to happen as these tools become more powerful.

Interesting, in context to what the OP remarks about the odd feeling of realizing all their users were anonymously interacting with "Dolores" too - Replika allows the user to name 'their' AI, set some criteria around its personality, etc...and will even sell you personality traits as 'upgrades.'

OP's experience seems to track rather closely with the trajectory of Replika, actually, which has also upgraded with voice synthesis, etc. The difference seems to be Replika has buckets of VC funding to throw at alternative models.

You mean snatch their money out of hands of twitch streamers. It’s not in their pockets already.

There are very many people (of both genders) that decide to stay in mediocre relationships because the alternative of loneliness is worse.

The effects on societal structure will be profound once virtual partners pass a certain threshold of fidelity.

If the barriers to entry to the tech are low, virtual girlfriends should not be expensive. Probably much cheaper than real ones.

If the barriers to entry are low. But I'd imagine that even if they are, switching costs will be extremely high.

To imagine these apps aren’t already doing such is a hard sell imo.

Full disclosure: I’ve paid for several AI services so far, most in the realm of “virtual girlfriend” experiences, and they all generally are more than subpar. Mind you, I have a couple of IRL partners. I also enjoy the act of sexual roleplaying, and finding reasonably expressive human partners is time-consuming. The “Girlfriend AI” options are pretty terrible though - I’ll take character.ai with its heavy moderation any day.

But if I’m paying to try these and explore and see what works, I’m certain that wallets are being drained already. Is this a problem? Could be, at least for some - to think otherwise feels disingenuous. The question will come down to how we address it: do we have frank conversations with people about the risks of devoting potential social time to AI engagement, or do people clamor for the AI backing tech to button up and become even more prudish?

Eventually? Months away.

> Eventually, a virtual girlfriend app that will put together sound and image will be released an empty the pockets of sad, lonely men on a large scale.

Sounds indistinguishable from an actual girlfriend ;)

Although probably intended as a joke, this is perhaps the saddest comment I have read on HN.

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