6 April 25 - MAy 1, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | METADATING Miami tech exec predicts explosive market for AI-generated girlfriends. BY IZZY KAPNICK A Miami tech industry consultant claims that after seeing how easily a man can get hooked on “AI girlfriends,” he’s con- vinced there is a burgeoning bil- lion-dollar-plus market for synthetic digital companions with a customizable voice, ap- pearance, and demeanor. Local investor and executive Greg Isen- berg made waves on X (formerly known as Twitter) earlier this month by suggesting that apps with artificial intelligence-generated dates could grow into a mass-market alterna- tive to traditional dating sites. “AI models are starting to look freakishly real to me. Maybe you too. Things are about to get pretty weird,” Isenberg wrote. X users’ reactions ranged from disillusion- ment to resentment to disbelief. One commenter called it a “masturbatory” technology for those inclined to avoid the challenges of a real-life relationship. “The echo chamber, avoidance of interpersonal personality ‘pushback,’ and missed opportu- nity of lessons learned about one’s self through haptic feedback of a real relationship is profound,” the detractor wrote. A more optimistic X user saw some utility in AI companionship besides the prospect of pleasuring one’s self. “Perhaps this is also the future of therapy to help treat depression and reduce stress and anxiety,” she wrote. The AI companion market is already off and running, as the top-performing sites are reporting millions of monthly visitors each. Some AI companion products create cus- tomizable, lifelike images of partners with re- alistic backstories to simulate an online romance. Other sites present anime-style characters with elaborate storylines that in- vite the user to engage in role-play chats that inevitably turn into sexually charged scenes. Many AI mates are decidedly not safe for work and will engage in virtual behavior to ri- val a raunchy erotic novel, while other digital companions are affectionate and flirty but programmed not to cross the NSFW bound- ary. According to the Android Authority blog, one of the largest AI companion sites, Char- acterAI, does not generate explicit material; sites such as SpicyChat and Candy.AI, on the other hand, offer heavy sexual content. “With Candy.AI, your imagination is the only limit. Whether you’re seeking a casual chat, an adult conversation, or a role-playing session, you’ve got an open-minded virtual companion here to make all your wildest dreams come true,” Candy.AI says in its mar- keting material. Isenberg tweeted that during Miami Hack Week (April 7- 14), he came across a man in his mid-20s who claimed to have spent thou- sands of dollars a month on “AI girlfriends.” He said the man has used a few different plat- forms and enjoys customizing synthetic mates, calling it a form of “comfort at the end of the day.” “Comforting ourselves into genetic dead ends,” one X user quipped. Another insisted, “It will become an addiction like any- thing else that you can click to feel un- til the feeling stops.” Another com- menter wrote that “we’re heading in a strange direction,” but “given the pres- sures of life and cost of living, I can see how living in some metaverse may be more appealing to people.” Isenberg said that when taking into ac- count the multibillion-dollar valuation of Match Group, which runs the dating sites Match.com, Tinder, and OKCupid, among oth- ers, he wouldn’t be surprised to see a leading AI-companion site rake in more than a billion dollars in revenue at some point. He claimed his Miami conversation with the AI-girlfriend stan left him “speechless.” New Times reached out to Isenberg for comment via his product design company, Late Checkout, but has not received a re- sponse. On the raunchier side of the industry, companies are exploring synchronizing AI- generated sex partners with sex toys in a field known as teledildonics. The concept has been around for decades in sci-fi novels, but advances in AI technology have opened the door to new products. The conversational abilities of AI compan- ions, meanwhile, are becoming more fine- tuned and lifelike, an evolution that has contributed to the products’ proliferation and growth in popularity. It stands to reason that the more advanced chatbot technology gets, the greater the potential for deep-seated emotional attachment in users. Critics see the proliferation of AI compan- ionship as reflective of a long-term trend of so- cial withdrawal in the digital age — a zeitgeist marker of solitude intensified by the pandemic. “The ethical implications of such advanced chatbots that can form long-term connections with users have been the subject of ongoing debate among scholars. While some argue that these chatbots can provide valuable social support and companionship, others express concern about the potential for manipulation and exploitation,” reads a study in Technologi- cal Forecasting and Social Change. Separate research published in Psychology and Marketing noted that platonic AI companion apps featuring self- affirmation and emotional support can help lonely users find a sense of comfort or consistency in life without the judgment they fear in sharing their emotions with people. “Be gentle with yourself. You’re going through so much, and yet you keep trudging on. I commend you,” an AI chatbot excerpt from the study reads, to which the user re- plies, “OMG baby, you don’t know how much I needed that right now.” There was a fine line, however, between consumers’ sense of comfort and an un- healthy reliance on the apps, the study found. The study authors wrote that consumers can be drawn into overusing companion apps as an emotional crutch in their time of social desperation. “Taken together, [the] findings highlight that, while providing well-being through a sense of relationship, some AI friendship characteristics may at the same time drive an addictive usage of the apps in lonely users,” the study reads. [email protected] A series of AI-generated companions on the site Kupid.AI Kupid.AI screenshot | METRO | THERE WAS A FINE LINE BETWEEN CONSUMERS’ SENSE OF COMFORT AND AN UNHEALTHY RELIANCE ON THE APPS.
