GirlfriendGPT – OSS AI Companion

Let's be more precise by what we mean by "human interactions" / "human contact" here. For example:

- An alternative outlet for venting/intimate conversations than your friends/spouse? I can see a problem growing here.

- A replacement/substitute for a therapist? I doubt even GPT-4 can do that job better than actual therapist (especially when face to face, not over Zoom), but there are many scenarios where ChatGPT would still be useful - perhaps one can't afford therapy, or otherwise doesn't have access to it, or one feels their issues don't warrant a proper therapy just yet.

- Related to the above, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one technique known to be somewhat effective when done alone with a book (relative to the effectiveness of individual/group therapy). I can imagine ChatGPT making this kind of self-help easier, and more effective. I know there have been attempts to make CBT chatbots some years ago (obviously prior to "GPT revolution"), but I don't know how effective they turned out to be.

- An alternative to posting questions on forums, group chats, or asking random people? IDK. maybe let's split it:

-- Individuals you know, directly or via group chat, and small communities - conversations there are simultaneously transactional/object-level and create interpersonal bonds. Replacing that with ChatGPT could make one worse off. However, some people (myself included) already have difficulty with this kind of interaction, so ChatGPT here is strictly positive (both in delivering answers and helping form a habit of phrasing questions/requests instead of doing Google searches).

-- Mass audience forums - Reddit, HN, Facebook comments, StackOverflow, etc. - the community might lose out a bit on reduced participation, but individually, I feel if ChatGPT can give you a satisfying answer to your question, you should use it, and relevant forums you frequent are likely better off with you not posting that question.

Etc.

That reminds me the Samantha in Her(2013).

"Theodore : What are you doing? Samantha : I'm just sitting here, looking at the world and writing a new piece of music."

I am more worried about this being the perfect tool for scammers than people reducing social interaction. Set it up on dating sites and let it "prime" users until you take over to do the scam.

The concerns mentioned in this thread are very valid, but there is a second side to this as well.

There are many lonely people, be it for depression, anxiety, inability to create social contacts, living in exclusion, being old and having no descendants, … They are largely invisible to the rest of the society.

Seems to me that this technology might make their lives more bearable.

Do we think a Boyfriend version will ever come along? Interesting that I've seen so much talk about AI girlfriends but there's a quiet assumption that straight women won't be interested in this technology. Is that correct?