[ExI] Thousands of Britons dating chatbots amid surge in loneliness

[efc at disroot.org]

On Sat, 8 Feb 2025, BillK via extropy-chat wrote:

> Thousands of Britons dating chatbots amid surge in loneliness.
> Think tank warns over psychological risks as nearly 1m turn to digital
> companions.
> Matthew Field Senior Technology Reporter       07 February 2025
>
> <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/02/07/thousands-of-britons-dating-chatbots-amid-surge-loneliness/>
> Quotes:
> Thousands of Britons are dating artificial intelligence (AI)
> girlfriends amid a surge in loneliness, with nearly 1m people relying
> on so-called digital companions.
>
> A report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) claimed
> that “society is already being changed by AI”, estimating that as many
> as 930,000 Brits had used the Character.AI digital chatbot app alone.
>
> Many more had turned to other apps, such as Replika, which touts its
> chatbots as offering “a friend, a partner, a mentor”.
>
> It comes amid a loneliness epidemic in Britain, with surveys
> suggesting the public has grown more isolated since the pandemic.
> ---------------------
>
> The article doesn't mention that chatbots are designed to be
> friendlier and 'nicer' than most humans can manage. Never condemning,
> always trying to be helpful, etc.
> All this while the chatbots are rapidly improving and becoming more addictive.
>
> BillK.

Wow! What a business model! Love as a Service for the digital era. Maybe 
the entrepreneur will be the next Musk?


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