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Dark world of AI-human relationships revealed

Posted by: The Conversation

Date: Friday, 11 October 2024

Plus: Nobel prizes ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Ruby and Chris smile happily into the camera while embracing their two daughters and two sons. The children’s faces echo their parents’ features – the image of a perfect family. But something is off. Those smiling faces are a little too identical. The children’s legs morph into each other as if they have sprung from the same ephemeral substance. This is because Ruby is Chris’s AI companion. The children aren’t real either, and this photo was created by an image generator.

Here, we investigate the highly unregulated world of human-AI relationships – uncovering why millions of people use these apps in place of friends, lovers or therapists. Author James Muldoon’s concerns extend much further than data privacy: “The problem with having your own virtual ‘yes man’, or more likely woman, is that they tend to go along with whatever crazy idea pops into your head.”

Two of the three Nobel Prizes in science this year − physics and chemistry − relate to AI. How the prizes came to be as much about bits and bytes as molecules and subatomic particles reflects the close interconnection between science and AI. Scroll down for more on this fascinating research.

And if you live in or near London, you might enjoy our event on Thursday which brings together a panel of experts to discuss the US election with one of our international affairs editors, Rachael Jolley. Register here to attend. We run these quarterly events with the academic publisher Sage and the Campaign for Social Science, and after the panel discussion there are opportunities to ask one-to-one questions of the experts and our editors over pizza and refreshments.

Mike Herd

Investigations Editor, Brighton, England

VFXPlus/Pixabay

Sex machina: in the wild west world of human-AI relationships, the lonely and vulnerable are most at risk

James Muldoon, University of Essex

A growing number of people (mostly men) find AI relationship apps addictive and alluring. So what are the likely effects of this technology on us as human beings?

‘My novels explore human suffering’: Nobel Prize winner Han Kang writes with empathy for vulnerable lives

Valentina Gosetti, University of New England

Han Kang is the first South Korean writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Her work explores mourning, loss and connection, its subjects ranging from family brutality to national uprisings.

 
 
 
 

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