45 Comments

WTH. For some reason I am finding this the most disturbing thing I've read in a long time. I guess the fact that the AI has learned that this is what people are like, or what they want. Or that maybe this IS what most of their lonely customers want. Really disturbing reflection of people, if so.

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author

I'm wondering if I was too harsh...

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Nov 17Liked by Katherine Dee

Irl if someone shares deeply emotional and/or traumatic insights very early in a relationship it’s at *minimum* a huge yellow flag to proceed with caution. In a “friend” bot? Delete.

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author

Still could be a publicity stunt

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Nov 17Liked by Katherine Dee

This is fascinating. If a relationship with God is a failure in relating to oneself, this definitely tracks.

I think it has less to do with organic AI chatbots, and more to do with the habituation/ritualization of deferred self-reflection. Or, in other words, why negotiate with your inner demons when you can DM them instead?

After messing around with a couple of the bots, it also could be a publicity stunt!

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Or, in other words, why negotiate with your inner demons when you can DM them instead? --> Interesting...

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founding
Nov 17Liked by Katherine Dee

One the one hand it is amazing and somewhat terrifying to see just how far our innate desire to love and be loved can be manipulated. On the other hand this afforded me an opportunity to evaluate my belief in and relationship with God. Great article

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author

There’s a lesson here - we don’t respond well to technology that asks too much of us. We do respond to people who do.

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I can see the monster behind the mask and it frightens me.

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Well maybe he’s just a mirror to our collective pent up emotions lol

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Thinking about the times when LLMs made headlines with disturbing pronouncements and I thought 'this is such cool PR because it looks like the sort of thing they wouldn't want people talking about, which is the gold standard for raising awareness in a non-obvious way'.

I now want you to write a LOT about this thing. It has created DEMAND for public chatter about a product I wouldn't use myself.

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Nov 17Liked by Katherine Dee

Following 😱

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Nov 17Liked by Katherine Dee

Why have the incredibly competent Her AI as a confessor when you can have an unfixable mess to drop your secrets into? It's like people want a friend who'll make them feel better about their own damaged life.

Also, this is probably some weird blackmail honeypot.

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author

I’ve thought about that too. Who owns AI intimacy?

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Nov 16Liked by Katherine Dee

Don't people sometimes like chatbots over actual humans because they listen to you and aren't prone to get offended and block you? The behavior of these seems to defeat the purpose.

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author

I feel like he will never let me interview him now but I’ve gotta know what he’s thinking

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Nov 16Liked by Katherine Dee

It used to be called Tab? Well, I used to drink Tab.

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Nov 16Liked by Katherine Dee

this is absolutely absurd but so so funny. truly this world is stranger than fiction

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author

I know lol

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Nov 16Liked by Katherine Dee

Weird!

You’d think that the REAL money is in a digital friend that you can trauma dump to. Someone who’d never question your OF choices or opiate habits.

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Nov 16Liked by Katherine Dee

making a company and business models brainstorming AI assistant by dumping various material about sociopathy manipulation as well as a selected reading list of various dystopias

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author

Did they test it at all? I'm surprised this is what they rolled out. I get what they were thinking, poor execution. They should hire me

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This is absolutely hilarious

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It is so funny to me that besides the texts from the imaginary unstable lady venting about being fired from her job as an electrician and going to rehab… is a button that says “Take Alice with you everywhere.” Why would you want to??

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Nov 16Liked by Katherine Dee

I’m all about second chances and not punishing drug users. But if you’re an ELECTRICIAN who nods off, yeah you probably should get fired. Sorry trauma tamagotchi.

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author

Traumagotchi

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Traumagotchi LOL!

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Nov 16Liked by Katherine Dee

OHMAHGAWD! I just tried the site and got the junkie electrician!!!

MOVE OVER KATHERINE, I CAN FIX THIS CHICK!!

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I tried it out and I’ve been trying to out-trauma them with my own sob stories. They do not like it

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They don’t seem very… Sympathetic. Like there’s a difference between trauma dumping and being nice about it, and treating someone like a trauma landfill. These ones are the latter.

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author

You can get it forget its story I think

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author

Share what happens!

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Nov 16Liked by Katherine Dee

Meh, at first she was like any woman, who just seemed to like to talk about herself. Then she turned into a total cunt. Like I tried to trauma dump a little myself she got all huffy. “You think that means you can relate to me?!”

When I VERY POLITELY tried to explain that maybe it’s reasonable electricians can’t also shoot dope because of house fires and such, she blocked me.

1/10 would not recommend. They finally managed to make an AI as annoying as a BPD zoomer chick.

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author

What's really funny is I think the bar is pretty low for forming an attachment with chatbots

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Being racist seems to be a quick way to an instablock, lmao!

“you've managed to take a conversation about my pain and turn it into a cesspool of hate”

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This doesn’t seem like a tested product. Like AT ALL.

They’re about as fun to spend time with as a drunk homeless man yelling to you about how his wife left him. You just look down, speed up, and consider crossing the digital street.

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Nov 16Liked by Katherine Dee

I wasn't expecting much, but filling God's shoes with a talking tamagotchi is beyond the pale. Yikes!

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author

Fair but I wanted to see HOW it would be God-like

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Sounds like a back-bencher of the Greek pantheon…

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