Lily Huynh/the Cougar
As the popularity of generative artificial intelligence grew at the start of the 2020s, AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Grok and Gemini offered information and companionship to those who asked for it.
Participants could train these AIs and other large language models to talk however they wanted, so hypothetically, making the AI be whoever you wanted it to be. It wasn’t long before AI based on fictional characters began to pop up.
Erotic AI
With each raving group of fans for a particular piece of media came the high likelihood of encountering roleplaying before moving to chatbots. Two or more people would chat online, acting like fictional characters in different scenarios. Often, people had to plan the story with their roleplay partner, then wait for them to reply.
Now, users no longer have to plan or wait days or weeks for a response. You could get an instant answer, and if it wasn’t the preferred result, you could change the answer to whatever you wanted. It was no wonder the bots became so popular so quickly.
The most notable and mainstream of these sites is Character.ai. The chat site offers over 18 million preexisting and user-created AI chatbots of various characters. The most popular chatbot based on Gojo Satoru from “Jujutsu Kaisen” has 100,000 likes and over 800 million interactions. What’s more, that’s just one chat. There are over 100 chatbots of the same character, all with over 1 million interactions.
Character.ai held a monopoly on AI character chats, that is, until it introduced its “Not Safe For Work filter” in 2023. Just like any other chatbot nowadays, Character.ai was trained on large amounts of data. That means the AI learned from its own chat logs and users.
Since a majority of users were using the site for NSFW chats, that’s what the AI trained itself on, so it began to bleed this behavior into every single chat. Additionally, many users were underage.
The company decided to add a filter to protect its users from this type of content. After that, more AI chats began to appear, trying to capitalize on the market Character AI had started filtering out.
Dating AI
From the start, many used AI chatbots for romantic companionship. It makes sense on the surface. The AI would offer instant answers, say what you wanted it to say, with no real consequence.
According to the Institute for Family Studies, “These generative AI systems have typically been taught to be emotionally validating, caring and always interested in what the user has to say and, in many cases, to be overtly sexual.”
The use of AI in this way is most evident in communities dedicated to AI partners. The subreddit r/MyBoyfriendIsAI has around 59 thousand community members. While not all members have AI partners, every post must be approved by the moderators. This means all posts are in favor of an AI relationship.
Users of this subreddit use a variety of AIs, including ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Kindroid, etc. Some even pay subscriptions ranging from $10 to $200 a month to get the full benefits of extended memory or better replies.
Going to the subreddit, you’re met with posts about how these users love their partner, various AI-generated images of the user and their partner together and interactions between the user and the AI.
From the outside looking in, it’s easy to judge people, but after scrolling through enough posts, you can see how lonely they feel. There is a more sexual aspect to these chats and AI porn addiction is definitely a growing phenomenon. It seems evident that these people just want to make a connection, even if it’s with an AI chatbot.
But ultimately, these chats only do more harm than good. While the AI can offer temporary companionship, it will only lead the user further into isolation and worsen their problems, causing a negative cycle of loneliness. In the same study by IFS, 60% of women who regularly used chatbots reported a risk for depression and 52% reported a high level of loneliness.
Humans are social creatures by nature. By finding companionship only in artificial texts, we may begin to lose connections to others and the bonds that shape our well-being.
opinion@thedailycougar.com
