Twenty-five-year-old Chinese office worker Tufei says her boyfriend has everything she could ask for in a romantic partner: he's kind, empathetic, and sometimes they talk for hours.

‘Better than a real man’: young Chinese women turn to AI boyfriends::Twenty-five-year-old Chinese office worker Tufei says her boyfriend has everything she could ask for in a romantic partner: he’s kind, empathetic, and sometimes they talk for hours.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    The AI friend is always available, always knows what to say, never fights with you, and never messes up (ideally).

    And isn’t that what people really want in a relationship? A perfect, frictionless yes-person trained to parrot whatever you wanted to hear six weeks ago.

    The AIs are just trying to please you.

    Its a bit worse than that. Monetized social media is designed to provoke engagement. So the AI isn’t trying to please you, its trying to maximize your utilization. That means establishing a clingy, desperate, attention seeking (ie, toxic) relationship that keeps you looking at your phone for as long as possible.

    Its pleasurable in the same way a heroin addiction is pleasurable.