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China's Regulators Take Aim at "AI Boyfriends"

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Re: China's Regulators Take Aim at "AI Boyfriends"

#31

Post by boricj »

nradov wrote: post #23
SoftTalker wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If people are born into a situation or simply have had bad luck with who they decided to trust, after enough betrayal you decide that juice of relationships isn't worth the squeeze. I'm pretty much there in my life, I don't seek companionship in AI (nor can I ever imagine doing so) but more than casual friendships and especially romance is not worth the work or the pain.

Embrace the pain. It's a good stimulus to avoid stagnation and improve your situation.

Generalities like this dismiss the lived experience of other people.

You don't know the pain of others, especially what others hide from you.

Re: China's Regulators Take Aim at "AI Boyfriends"

#33

Post by dyauspitr »

itake wrote: post #14
KronisLV wrote: post #6

I kinda feel like if people have to turn to AI for companionship, it's the same as using AI for therapy - because the real thing isn't available and any number of systems have failed those people along the way. In a sense, that might be a bit telling of the modern day society: in what world is it so difficult to make meaningful connections to people, that if a real human relationship can be like 5x more meaningful (m…

My $0.02 is when it comes to dating, social media ruined people’s “standards” [0] People would rather chill and be single than date the wrong guy, even if they aren’t bringing much to the table themselves… [0] - same energy as the teen girls have low self esteem due to magazine covers and instagram.

Also all the hot people can find each other now because of the dating apps and when people are below a certain level of ugliness they don’t want to date each other anymore.

Re: China's Regulators Take Aim at "AI Boyfriends"

#34

Post by stronglikedan »

johnea wrote: post #30

A friend is in China right now. I spent some time on the phone with him the other day, as he wandered around the city where he's working. It was Sunday there, most people's day off, and he was amazed at how many people were out in the public parks, playing chess and go, kids on the playground equipment. inter-generational interaction. His impression was that China has a much higher level of people randomly interactin…

I wonder how that looks per capita. I'd wager very similar between China and the US.

Re: China's Regulators Take Aim at "AI Boyfriends"

#35

Post by QDwQ1 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #28
ryandrake wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you took someone from the 1990s and dumped them in 2026, I think one of the biggest shocks to them would be how optional humans are everywhere. You can't get a human on the phone when you call a business anymore. We check out our own groceries with machines now. We order fast food from a kiosk or app instead of a person. Self-driving taxis. Robots doing work and AI making content. Apps mediating all kinds of relat…

> What is the return on this investment? ~$5T/year in profits from the US, concentrated to the ~10% of American households who hold ~93% of equities, while the socioeconomic and social systems continue towards failure. Progress! /s https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49644650 (citations) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49357337 (citations) U.S. workers' share of national income falls to a new low - https://www.…

the line WILL go up

Re: China's Regulators Take Aim at "AI Boyfriends"

#36

Post by hellisothers »

dyauspitr wrote: post #33
itake wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My $0.02 is when it comes to dating, social media ruined people’s “standards” [0] People would rather chill and be single than date the wrong guy, even if they aren’t bringing much to the table themselves… [0] - same energy as the teen girls have low self esteem due to magazine covers and instagram.

Also all the hot people can find each other now because of the dating apps and when people are below a certain level of ugliness they don’t want to date each other anymore.

This seems like an excuse/conspiracy theory. Hot people could always find hot people: go to where hot people hang out (clubs, hipster bars, art galleries, yoga, etc). What has definitely increased is access to people complaining about hot people not dating them.

Re: China's Regulators Take Aim at "AI Boyfriends"

#37

Post by andai »

KronisLV wrote: post #6

I kinda feel like if people have to turn to AI for companionship, it's the same as using AI for therapy - because the real thing isn't available and any number of systems have failed those people along the way. In a sense, that might be a bit telling of the modern day society: in what world is it so difficult to make meaningful connections to people, that if a real human relationship can be like 5x more meaningful (m…

> maybe the average person kind of sucks, or the way relationships are treated sucks

It's friction right? The last 150 years of progress have been all about removing friction.

And relationships are a great source of friction.

As a side note, I think it's this push for frictionlessness, this is the same force which has resulted in the loss of meaning.

Structure and community are seen as oppressive.

At last, we have been liberated from both.

Re: China's Regulators Take Aim at "AI Boyfriends"

#38

Post by andai »

ryandrake wrote: post #25
KronisLV wrote: post #6

I kinda feel like if people have to turn to AI for companionship, it's the same as using AI for therapy - because the real thing isn't available and any number of systems have failed those people along the way. In a sense, that might be a bit telling of the modern day society: in what world is it so difficult to make meaningful connections to people, that if a real human relationship can be like 5x more meaningful (m…

If you took someone from the 1990s and dumped them in 2026, I think one of the biggest shocks to them would be how optional humans are everywhere. You can't get a human on the phone when you call a business anymore. We check out our own groceries with machines now. We order fast food from a kiosk or app instead of a person. Self-driving taxis. Robots doing work and AI making content. Apps mediating all kinds of relat…

UBI or mass death, by my reckoning.

I've also got $50 on "massive fake jobs program", because the unemployment will be a social / psychological disaster even if the economics turn out to be straightforward.

Re: China's Regulators Take Aim at "AI Boyfriends"

#39

Post by andai »

stronglikedan wrote: post #34
johnea wrote: post #30

A friend is in China right now. I spent some time on the phone with him the other day, as he wandered around the city where he's working. It was Sunday there, most people's day off, and he was amazed at how many people were out in the public parks, playing chess and go, kids on the playground equipment. inter-generational interaction. His impression was that China has a much higher level of people randomly interactin…

I wonder how that looks per capita. I'd wager very similar between China and the US.

Looks like their cities are 10x bigger on average than US cities, that's amazing.

That means that if you go out for a walk you would be 10 times more likely to run into a friendly stranger who wants to chat.

Re: China's Regulators Take Aim at "AI Boyfriends"

#40

Post by ryandrake »

pibaker wrote: post #24
KronisLV wrote: post #6

I kinda feel like if people have to turn to AI for companionship, it's the same as using AI for therapy - because the real thing isn't available and any number of systems have failed those people along the way. In a sense, that might be a bit telling of the modern day society: in what world is it so difficult to make meaningful connections to people, that if a real human relationship can be like 5x more meaningful (m…

Off topic, but I have always wondered if the real advantage of an AI therapist is it has little power over you and will not snitch you to the authorities if you say something "wrong." People walk on eggshells when talking to human therapists because they know if they say something about hurting themselves or others, they can end up in a mental institution, losing their jobs, the custody of their children, their home,…

> will not snitch you to the authorities if you say something "wrong."

What makes you believe this? We had this story[1] just a few days ago where Waymo up and decided to pull over and hand passengers who had guns on them over to the police. If anything, I would trust AI less to keep a conversation private and not flag me for one of its many programmed "safety" triggers.

1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49672549

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