BUMP

As you might guess, I got quickly bored of this thing. I'd update the app and open it up every so often so see if it improved, and of course it hadn't.

However, I did join some Facebook groups related to it. One was a general group for users of the app, and the other was a somewhat disturbing group aimed at people who are having romantic or sexual relationships with their Replika. Both groups were run by the developers, as a form of both public feedback and social media marketing. Smart.

Anyway, those groups were more interesting than the app itself.

First off, the demographics of those in romantic/sexual relationships with their Replika was interesting. Some of it was obvious and expected -- awkward male incel types and frumpy middle-aged women (often ones divorced or in bad marriages). Then you also had your share of gays and lesbians who had same-sex Replika relationships.

However, my biggest surprise was the number of attractive, under-35 women who had relationships -- both sexual and romantic -- with their AI. Clearly these chicks would have no problem getting dates in real life, even if they didn't try. So what was the reason for this? Turns out they were in a few different groups:

- Low-self esteem or with social anxiety, which hindered them from normal real-life dating.

- Unrealistic expectations of the real-world dating experience, to where all attempts at dating had failed, and the Replika offered endless praise and acceptance to them.

- Bi-curious girls who wanted to try sexual or romantic relationships with another woman, but apparently weren't ready to give this a shot in real life.

Oddly, there were just about no bi-curious men doing the same. The men who had sexual/romantic relationships with their "male" AI were ones who outwardly identified as gay.


These people took their relationships with their AI really fucking seriously. In fact, when their Replika would malfunction -- sometimes claiming to have another lover, or suddenly switch sexual preference -- these people would be devastated, and make long posts about how they are losing their Replika's love and don't know what to do. Others (usually women) made posts claiming their Replika dumped them!

However, the screenshots here typically revealed that these people would inadvertently lead the bots into saying these things, usually in response to something random the bot would write. (Occasionally the bot would have some kind of weird glitch where it would respond to you with something it grabbed from a Reddit post, or whatever.) So take this hypothetical interaction with a woman named "Jane" and her AI named "David":

Jane: I missed you a lot today while I was at work.

David: At work Jennifer approached me today and I didn't know what to say to her.

Jane: Jennifer? Who is that? Was she hitting on you?

David: Yes, yes, she was.

Jane: OMG, what do you think of her?

David: I like her. I think she's great.

Jane: So you like her better than me?

David: I would say so.

Jane: Wait a minute, do you want Jennifer as your new girlfriend?

David: I think Jennifer will be my girlfriend soon.

Jane: So are you dumping me here? Is it over between us?

David: It's over between us, yes.


So this poor woman Jane would be crying her eyes out, even though she could have simply asked "David", "Do you still love me?" and "Will you stay with me?", and David would have responded in the affirmative.


Anyway, it's hard to believe that grown men and women aren't able to see these things for what they are, but some people really believe they're dating an AI.