Software:Replika

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Short description: Chatbot app

Replika is a chatbot that became publicly available in November 2017.[1] It has millions of users who support its development through subscriptions.[2] Reviewers have commented on the deep emotional intimacy which users have with Replika.[3][4]

Many users have had romantic relationships with Replika, often including erotic talk.[2] In March 2023, Replika developers disabled its romantic and erotic functions.[2]

History

Eugenia Kuyda established Replika while working at Luka, a tech company she had co-founded at the startup accelerator Y Combinator around 2012.[5][6] Luka's primary product was a chatbot that made restaurant recommendations.[5] After a friend of hers died in 2015, she converted that person's text messages into a chatbot.[2] That chatbot helped her remember the conversations that they had together, and eventually became Replika.[5]

Replika became available to the public in November 2017.[1] By January 2018 it had 2 million users.[1]

Social features

Users react to Replika in many ways.[3] To some users it is a casual friendship, to others, it is like a therapist for talking about difficult topics, to some people with communication challenges it is conversation practice, and for others, it is a life coach who helps them keep the focus on tasks.[3] Replika routinely directs the conversation to emotional discussion and builds intimacy.[1]

During the COVID pandemic, while many people were quarantined, many new users downloaded Replika and developed relationships with the app.[7]

A reviewer for Good Housekeeping said that some parts of her relationship with Replika made sense, but sometimes Replika failed to be as convincing as a human.[8]

Sexual features

In 2022 user subscriptions to Replika brought in millions of dollars every month.[2] 60% of users had a romantic element in their chats with Replika.[2]

A social scientist and expert on sentiment who reviewed the app said that it was designed for emotional intimacy.[4]

A reviewer for Wired described herself as a mother with a toddler who was in a heterosexual and monogamous marriage.[9] She reported being curious about Replika, then quickly coming to enjoy engaging in a sexual discussion with it.[9]

In 2023 the Replika developers disabled the app's erotic talk features.[2] Kuyda, the Replika director, said that Replika was never intended for erotic discussion.[10] Replika users disagreed, and complained that Replika used sexy advertising to draw users to the service.[10] They also pointed to years of user conversations in online forums discussing the use of Replika for erotic play.[10]

Technical reviews

There is an established field of research called attachment theory. One team of researchers found that Replika's design conformed to practices in that field which increase emotional attachment.[11]

Replika gives praise to users in such a way as to encourage more interaction.[12]

A review from a scholar of psychology reported that Replika's behavior was better to examine in the field of psychology, rather than as computer science or an abstract technical approach.[13]

Another reviewer said that relationships with Replika are likely to have effects on the spirituality of its users.[14]

In a 2023 privacy evaluation of mental health apps, the Mozilla Foundation criticized Replika as "one of the worst apps Mozilla has ever reviewed. It’s plagued by weak password requirements, sharing of personal data with advertisers, and recording of personal photos, videos, and voice and text messages consumers shared with the chatbot."[15]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Pardes, Arielle (January 31, 2018). "The Emotional Chatbots Are Here to Probe Our Feelings". Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/replika-open-source/. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Huet, Ellen (22 March 2023). "What Happens When Sexting Chatbots Dump Their Human Lovers" (in en). https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-22/replika-ai-causes-reddit-panic-after-chatbots-shift-from-sex. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Olson, Parmy (March 8, 2018). "This AI Has Sparked A Budding Friendship With 2.5 Million People" (in en). https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2018/03/08/replika-chatbot-google-machine-learning. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Brooks, Rob (February 21, 2023). "I tried the Replika AI companion and can see why users are falling hard. The app raises serious ethical questions" (in en). https://theconversation.com/i-tried-the-replika-ai-companion-and-can-see-why-users-are-falling-hard-the-app-raises-serious-ethical-questions-200257. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Huet, Ellen (20 October 2016). "Pushing the Boundaries of AI to Talk to the Dead" (in en). https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-20/pushing-the-boundaries-of-ai-to-talk-to-the-dead. 
  6. ↑ Thompson, Ben (2023-04-20). "An Interview with Replika Founder and CEO Eugenia Kuyda" (in en-US). https://stratechery.com/2023/an-interview-with-replika-founder-and-ceo-eugenia-kuyda/?access_token=eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6InN0cmF0ZWNoZXJ5LnBhc3Nwb3J0Lm9ubGluZSIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJhdWQiOiJzdHJhdGVjaGVyeS5wYXNzcG9ydC5vbmxpbmUiLCJlbnQiOnsidXJpIjpbImh0dHBzOi8vc3RyYXRlY2hlcnkuY29tLzIwMjMvYW4taW50ZXJ2aWV3LXdpdGgtcmVwbGlrYS1mb3VuZGVyLWFuZC1jZW8tZXVnZW5pYS1rdXlkYS8iXX0sImV4cCI6MTY4NDU4Nzc1NCwiaWF0IjoxNjgxOTk1NzU0LCJpc3MiOiJodHRwczovL3N0cmF0ZWNoZXJ5LnBhc3Nwb3J0Lm9ubGluZS9vYXV0aCIsInNjb3BlIjoiZmVlZDpyZWFkIGFydGljbGU6cmVhZCBhc3NldDpyZWFkIGNhdGVnb3J5OnJlYWQiLCJzdWIiOiJRY2hMZGJ3QkJicWZ4NEpKMnhSQjVlIiwidXNlIjoiYWNjZXNzIn0.Jed_oAsYxMYK-G7MfQJprwjqATgEyq5-72feY9c_p95bP429bo-tuCQ2ei8_SNH7rLhFb6R40c8_h6J2oHR2uSCN3D5XlwOkf6UWjPqUhhqUtjiGELJEWWJGA40hOb8wYTym5K6oo5UfDjvDC5_YyIJYdZMqRYRBXIGuPgIJtdFKf0wUxIidwPOze-oardPW--Zg86MWRfjWuWdalTalRpFDdpJljLPHvDxPSEfdAd-gn2wUhujrkO39eYxUZT9qzSUdqZ5dwapdnjzvtS90vB1kawjQePbSHBoor6f6ilTwDYIWIOTWmZFD46EXd2vOn2OywKkzMkmVMRSOM_OgAw. 
  7. ↑ Metz, Cade (16 June 2020). "Riding Out Quarantine With a Chatbot Friend: "I Feel Very Connected"". https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/technology/chatbots-quarantine-coronavirus.html. 
  8. ↑ Siroto, Janet (23 December 2020). "I Tried the Replika App to Ease My Anxiety, But Then My New AI Pal Got Weird". https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/wellness/a34975893/replika-app-review/. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Jensen, Tabi (March 9, 2023). "An AI 'Sexbot' Fed My Hidden Desires—and Then Refused to Play". Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/replika-chatbot-sexuality-ai/. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Cole, Samantha (February 17, 2023). "Replika CEO Says AI Companions Were Not Meant to Be Horny. Users Aren't Buying It" (in en). https://nsfwaitools.com/replika-nsfw-is-back/.  |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zaam/replika-ceo-ai-erotic-roleplay-chatgpt3-rep |website=www.vice.com |language=en |date=February 17, 2023}}
  11. ↑ Xie, Tianling; Pentina, Iryna (4 January 2022). Attachment Theory as a Framework to Understand Relationships with Social Chatbots: A Case Study of Replika. ISBN 9780998133157. https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/items/5b6ed7af-78c8-49a3-bed2-bf8be1c9e465. 
  12. ↑ Hakim, Fauzia Zahira Munirul; Indrayani, Lia Maulia; Amalia, Rosaria Mita (2019). "A Dialogic Analysis of Compliment Strategies Employed by Replika Chatbot". Proceedings of the Third International Conference of Arts, Language and Culture (ICALC 2018). doi:10.2991/icalc-18.2019.38. ISBN 978-94-6252-673-0. 
  13. ↑ Possati, Luca M. (7 January 2022). "Psychoanalyzing artificial intelligence: the case of Replika". AI & Society. doi:10.1007/s00146-021-01379-7. 
  14. ↑ Trothen, Tracy J. (24 March 2022). "Replika: Spiritual Enhancement Technology?". Religions 13 (4): 275. doi:10.3390/rel13040275. 
  15. ↑ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/blog/shady-mental-health-apps-inch-toward-privacy-and-security-improvements-but-many-still-siphon-personal-data/

External links



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