Mum, I’m marrying my AI!

80% of Gen Z would be open to marrying an AI, according to a recent article in Forbes magazine. Is this the gateway to deeper questions about machine intelligence, or merely marketing hype?

Those crazy kids

Nothing brings out a generation gap like new technology.

My kids nearly die laughing watching me navigate Snapchat. It is definitely not skibidi … or it is completely skibidi … I never really got that?

Well, a piece of research recently gathered headlines suggesting yet another way in which the younger generation might see things very differently.

Mum, Dad - this is GPT7.3/gary

A recent Forbes article trumpeted that "80% of Gen Z would marry an AI”, with 83% open to deep emotional bonds.

Therapist Jaime Bronstein from Joi AI, a chatbot firm whose obvious skin in this game can’t be ignored, suggests these “AI-lationships" can support stressed, lonely individuals.

Is it just me, or does this sound creepily like the 2013 hit movie She, in which a lonely writer, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), falls in love with Samantha, an AI voiced by Scarlett Johansson, only to struggle with her boundless digital capacities?

Don’t get me wrong I think JoPho and ScarJo would make beautiful hybrid human AI babies, but 12 years on, is life imitating art?

I think we all agree there’s probably some hype in this headline.

As a former breakfast radio announcer, I know all too well the ability of a well-placed ‘survey’ to save the day for a poor journo charged with feeding the deadline beast.

But let me add two wrinkles here.

Will AI ever come to life?

The question of whether AI platforms will ever become conscious is one of the deepest issues thrown up by the current GPT explosion.

And it is by no means settled. Very smart, very well qualified people completely disagree on this point.

Some say it is impossible for non-biological objects to ever have an intelligent sense of self. Others say it is inevitable that GPT1000 or similar will be sentient.

This landmark question is further complicated by our own inability to understand human consciousness in great detail. (Spoiler alert: more on this in next week’s issue of Nerd News!)

But regardless of whether AI ever ‘comes to life’, I consider it likely that many platforms will reach a point where we cannot tell if they are conscious or not.

This provides a whole realm of philosophical and ethical questions, from companioning with AIs to granting them rights.

Grandpa's best buddy?

While the thought of a 20 year old, with life opening up in front of them, falling in love with their iPad might seem to some bizarre and sad, consider this...

At the retirement lodge where my mum lives, about 40% of all the residents receive zero visitors a year.

ZERO!

I can well imagine a world where AI systems provide a degree of connection and solace for people whose social networks have disappeared.

And consider the potential for those experiencing cognitive decline, who might be happy to recycle the same conversations, movies, and playlists multiple times a day.

Keeping it real

Don’t get me wrong, I’m as cynical as anyone about the 80% figure in the Forbes headline.

But I do believe we will one day face deep, rich, challenging questions posed to us by digital agents.

Are they alive? Do they have feelings? Is discontinuing research on a platform and shutting it down, akin to murder? Can I have my own digital JoPhoScarJo to do with as I please?

Ok I’ll stop there. See you next week!

Yours in nerdiness,

Adam