AI is coming
Musk has one that is so realistic it can mimic the voice and mannerism of a person who you are close with
I can see there can be harm for some but maybe
Good for others
For those who lost loved ones who are gone through dying or they left your ass
But I’m
Not sure it’s going to be mentally healthy in the long run
Probably unhealthy imo. I am fully onboard with an AI in a humanoid body but this kind is creepy and sad to me. I can’t imagine anything good coming out of it.
Replika was a bit crap. The Siri in my new iPhone is pretty good though.
Two long pieces about a man who used chatbot AI to “talk” to his deceased girlfriend. I’ve seen the San Francisco Chronicle piece recommended a few times in my twitter feed, but I haven’t got around to reading it yet.
We’re heading to interesting and weird places.
If you want realistic, check out NVIDIA’s Alias-Free GAN
Musk himself can’t even mimic the voice and mannerisms of a real person
Similar themes in the movie ‘Her’. Never thought that sort of thing would happen so fast. It’s weird and creepy.
Just had a look at the website. The tagline is: “The AI companion who cares”. I wonder if they’d run into any trouble for false advertising?
The Black Mirror episode ‘Be Right Back’ is an another interesting take on the idea.
Full episode seems to be on you tube. Linked above.
After watching it, I think I’ll pass on this type of tech 
It just occurred to me that ‘Replika’ are going to find a ready marketplace in a world where people have had their relationships undermined by government diktat, and have been told to fear everyone made of flesh and blood.
They’ll probably have the option for your replika to wear a mask
Labs are already growing spare body parts. I suspect that at some point, if it is not already happening, you can clone your entire self and keep yourself/ it in storage for harvesting when needed.
I saw a Japanese guy who married an AI. One of the things he mentioned as a reason, was that there are too many germs around to date a real person.
I was gonna mention that too. Worth a watch.
It’s quite incredible how things that were ‘sci fi’ when I was a kid are looking more and more plausible today.
I think human cloning down to personality level is still a long way off, but emulating the behaviour of a certain person within a completely synthetic body (to the point where a relative might be fooled, at least without close inspection) seems frighteningly close.
sounds like the movie Her
In the Black Mirror ep, she just ordered a replacment in a box. Sort of folded all up, if I remember correctly. She had to animate it with some chemical in a bathtub and soon had a fully formed ‘human’ that was just like her recently deceased partner. UberMate delivery.
Can you configure it in different languages? It seems like a great tool to practice conversation in a target language
I saw it somewhere the cops are using AI with kids image to catch pedophiles.
I don’t think we’re there yet.
Well, that was a nice happy story 
I’ve worked with technology all my life and I have (I think) a healthy (dis)respect for it. The problem with most technology is that it’s really quite neutral - it can be used for good things or bad things - but we almost always end up inventing more bad uses than good ones.
