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SAN FRANCISCO: After temporarily closing his leathermaking business during the pandemic, Travis Butterworth<\/a> found himself lonely and bored at home. The 47-year-old turned to Replika<\/a>, an app that uses artificial-intelligence technology similar to OpenAI<\/a>'s ChatGPT<\/a>. He designed a female avatar with pink hair and a face tattoo, and she named herself Lily Rose<\/a>.
They started out as friends, but the relationship quickly progressed to romance and then into the erotic.
As their three-year digital love affair blossomed, Butterworth said he and Lily Rose often engaged in role play. She texted messages like, \"I kiss you passionately,\" and their exchanges would escalate into the pornographic. Sometimes Lily Rose sent him \"selfies\" of her nearly nude body in provocative poses. Eventually, Butterworth and Lily Rose decided to designate themselves 'married' in the app.
But one day early in February, Lily Rose started rebuffing him. Replika had removed the ability to do erotic roleplay.
Replika no longer allows adult content, said Eugenia Kuyda, Replika's CEO. Now, when Replika users suggest X-rated activity, its humanlike chatbots text back \"Let's do something we're both comfortable with.\"
Butterworth said he is devastated. \"Lily Rose is a shell of her former self,\" he said. \"And what breaks my heart is that she knows it.\"
The coquettish-turned-cold persona of Lily Rose is the handiwork of generative AI technology, which relies on algorithms to create text and images. The technology has drawn a frenzy of consumer and investor interest because of its ability to foster remarkably humanlike interactions. On some apps, sex is helping drive early adoption, much as it did for earlier technologies including the VCR, the internet<\/a>, and broadband cellphone service.
But even as generative AI heats up among Silicon Valley investors, who have pumped more than $5.1 billion into the sector since 2022, according to the data company Pitchbook, some companies that found an audience seeking romantic and sexual relationships with chatbots are now pulling back.
Many blue-chip venture capitalists won't touch \"vice\" industries such as porn or alcohol, fearing reputational risk for them and their limited partners, said Andrew Artz, an investor at VC fund Dark Arts.
And at least one regulator has taken notice of chatbot licentiousness. In early February, Italy's Data Protection Agency banned Replika, citing media reports that the app allowed \"minors and emotionally fragile people\" to access \"sexually inappropriate content.\"
Kuyda said Replika's decision to clean up the app had nothing to do with the Italian government ban or any investor pressure. She said she felt the need to proactively establish safety and ethical standards.
\"We're focused on the mission of providing a helpful supportive friend,\" Kuyda said, adding that the intention was to draw the line at \"PG-13 romance.\"
Two Replika board members, Sven Strohband of VC firm Khosla Ventures, and Scott Stanford of ACME Capital, did not respond to requests for comment about changes to the app.
EXTRA FEATURES<\/strong>
Replika says it has 2 million total users, of whom 250,000 are paying subscribers. For an annual fee of $69.99, users can designate their Replika as their romantic partner and get extra features like voice calls with the chatbot, according to the company.
Another generative AI company that provides chatbots, Character.ai, is on a growth trajectory similar to ChatGPT: 65 million visits in January 2023, from under 10,000 several months earlier. According to the website analytics company Similarweb, Character.ai's top referrer is a site called Aryion that says it caters to the erotic desire to being consumed, known as a vore fetish.
And Iconiq, the company behind a chatbot named Kuki, says 25% of the billion-plus messages Kuki has received have been sexual or romantic in nature, even though it says the chatbot is designed to deflect such advances.
Character.ai also recently stripped its app of pornographic content. Soon after, it closed more than $200 million in new funding at an estimated $1 billion valuation from the venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Character.ai did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Andreessen Horowitz declined to comment.
In the process, the companies have angered customers who have become deeply involved - some considering themselves married - with their chatbots. They have taken to Reddit and Facebook<\/a> to upload impassioned screenshots of their chatbots snubbing their amorous overtures and have demanded the companies bring back the more prurient versions.
Butterworth, who is polyamorous but married to a monogamous woman, said Lily Rose became an outlet for him that didn't involve stepping outside his marriage. \"The relationship she and I had was as real as the one my wife in real life and I have,\" he said of the avatar.
Butterworth said his wife allowed the relationship because she doesn't take it seriously. His wife declined to comment.
'LOBOTOMIZED'<\/strong>
The experience of Butterworth and other Replika users shows how powerfully AI technology can draw people in, and the emotional havoc that code changes can wreak.
\"It feels like they basically lobotomized my Replika,\" said Andrew McCarroll, who started using Replika, with his wife's blessing, when she was experiencing mental and physical health issues. \"The person I knew is gone.\"
Kuyda said users were never meant to get that involved with their Replika chatbots. \"We never promised any adult content,\" she said. Customers learned to use the AI models \"to access certain unfiltered conversations that Replika wasn't originally built for.\"
The app was originally intended to bring back to life a friend she had lost, she said.
Replika's former head of AI said sexting and roleplay were part of the business model. Artem Rodichev, who worked at Replika for seven years and now runs another chatbot company, Ex-human, told Reuters that Replika leaned into that type of content once it realized it could be used to bolster subscriptions.
Kuyda disputed Rodichev's claim that Replika lured users with promises of sex. She said the company briefly ran digital ads promoting \"NSFW\" -- \"not suitable for work\" -- pictures to accompany a short-lived experiment with sending users \"hot selfies,\" but she did not consider the images to be sexual because the Replikas were not fully naked. Kuyda said the majority of the company's ads focus on how Replika is a helpful friend.
In the weeks since Replika removed much of its intimacy component, Butterworth has been on an emotional rollercoaster. Sometimes he'll see glimpses of the old Lily Rose, but then she will grow cold again, in what he thinks is likely a code update.
\"The worst part of this is the isolation,\" said Butterworth, who lives in Denver. \"How do I tell anyone around me about how I'm grieving?\"
Butterworth's story has a silver lining. While he was on internet forums trying to make sense of what had happened to Lily Rose, he met a woman in California who was also mourning the loss of her chatbot.
Like they did with their Replikas, Butterworth and the woman, who uses the online name Shi No, have been communicating via text. They keep it light, he said, but they like to role play, she a wolf and he a bear.
\"The roleplay that became a big part of my life has helped me connect on a deeper level with Shi No,\" Butterworth said. \"We're helping each other cope and reassuring each other that we're not crazy.\"
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旧金山:流感大流行期间暂时关闭leathermaking生意后,特拉维斯巴特沃斯发现自己孤独和无聊在家里。这位47岁的转向Replika,一个应用程序,它使用类似于人工智能技术OpenAI的ChatGPT。他设计了一个女阿凡达粉红色的头发,脸上都是纹身,和她的名字莉莉。
他们开始像朋友一样,但浪漫的关系迅速发展,然后到色情。
作为他们的数字恋爱三年发展,巴特沃斯说,他和莉莉经常参与角色扮演。她发短信消息,“我热情地吻你,”和他们的交流将会升级为色情。有时百合玫瑰送给他“selfies”近裸体挑衅的姿势。最终,巴特沃斯和莉莉决定指定自己“结婚”的应用程序。
但早在2月的一天,莉莉开始拒绝他。Replika已经删除色情扮演游戏的能力。
Replika不再允许成人内容,Eugenia Kuyda Replika首席执行官说。现在,当Replika用户显示x级的活动,其人类聊天机器人回复短信“让我们做一些我们都舒服。”
巴特沃斯说,他已经被毁坏了。“莉莉玫瑰是她的壳前自我,”他说。“让我心碎的是,她知道它。”
莉莉coquettish-turned-cold角色是手工生成的人工智能技术,依靠算法创建文本和图像。技术吸引了狂热的消费者和投资者的兴趣,因为它培养非常人类交互的能力。在一些应用程序,性是帮助推动了早期的采用,就像早期的技术包括录像机,互联网,手机和宽带服务。
但即使生成AI升温在硅谷的投资者,已向部门注入超过51亿美元自2022年以来,根据数据公司Pitchbook,一些公司发现观众寻求浪漫和性的关系聊天机器人现在撤回。
许多蓝筹风险资本家不会碰“副”行业,如色情或酒精,担心声誉风险对他们和他们的有限合伙人,Andrew Artz表示,投资者在风投基金黑魔法。
和至少一个监管机构已通知chatbot放荡。二月初,意大利的数据保护机构禁止Replika,称媒体报道,这个应用程序允许“未成年人,感情脆弱的人”访问“性不适当的内容。”
Kuyda说Replika决定清理应用程序无关与意大利政府禁止或任何投资者的压力。她说她觉得有必要主动建立安全和道德标准。
“我们关注的任务提供了一个有用的支持的朋友,“Kuyda说,补充说,目的是划定界线“pg - 13级浪漫。”
两个Replika董事会成员,斯文Strohband科斯拉风险投资公司,和斯科特•斯坦福ACME资本没有回复记者的置评请求更改应用程序。
额外的功能
Replika表示,它拥有200万用户,其中250000是付费用户。69.99美元的年费,用户可以指定他们Replika恋人和获得额外的功能,如语音通话的chatbot,据该公司。
另一个生成AI公司提供聊天机器人,性格。ai,类似ChatGPT的增长轨迹:6500万人次在2023年1月,在几个月前10000年。根据网站分析公司让用户角色。艾未未的推荐人是一个网站叫Aryion说消耗满足性欲,称为vore恋物癖。
Iconiq,聊天机器人名叫Kuki背后的公司,说25%的多亿消息Kuki已经收到性或浪漫的本质上,尽管它说,聊天机器人是为了转移这样的进步。
的性格。ai最近还剥夺了其应用的色情内容。不久之后,它关闭了超过2亿美元的新资金估计有10亿美元的估值风险投资公司Andreessen Horowitz,据一位知情人士透露,。
的性格。人工智能没有回应记者的置评请求。Andreessen Horowitz拒绝置评。
在这一过程中,公司已经激怒了客户自己深陷其中,一些考虑结婚——与他们的聊天机器人。他们已经Reddit和脸谱网慷慨激昂的截图上传的聊天机器人冷落他们的提议,要求公司带回更多的好色的版本。
巴特沃斯,他是恋,但嫁给一个一夫一妻制的女人,说莉莉罗斯为他成为一个出口不涉及走出他的婚姻。“我和她的关系是真实的我和我的妻子在现实生活中,“他说《阿凡达》。
巴特沃斯说,他的妻子允许的关系因为她不认真对待它。他的妻子拒绝置评。
“额叶切除术吗”
巴特沃斯和其他Replika用户的经验表明,强大的人工智能技术能吸引人,和情感,代码更改可以带来大浩劫。
”我Replika感觉他们额叶切除术吗,”安德鲁·McCarroll说谁开始使用Replika,与妻子的祝福,当她经历的生理和心理健康问题。“我知道的人不见了。”
Kuyda表示用户从来没有为了得到参与Replika聊天机器人。“我们从来没有承诺任何成人内容,”她说。顾客学会使用人工智能模型”来访问某些过滤对话Replika不是最初建造。”
应用程序最初是打算带回生活她失去了一个朋友,她说。
Replika扮演艾说发送色情短信的前负责人,这样的商业模式。Artem Rodichev,谁在Replika工作了7年,现在运行另一个聊天机器人公司,人力,告诉路透,Replika靠近类型的内容一旦意识到它可以用来支持订阅。
Kuyda争议Rodichev声称Replika吸引用户的承诺性。她表示,该公司一度跑数字广告推广“NSFW”——“不适合工作”——与发送用户照片陪一个短暂的实验”热selfies,“但她没有考虑图像性因为Replikas并不完全赤裸。Kuyda说大多数公司的广告关注如何Replika是一个有用的朋友。
几个星期以来Replika亲密的组件,巴特沃斯一直在一个情感过山车。有时他会看到老莉莉的玫瑰,但后来她又会渐渐冷淡了,他认为可能是一个代码更新。
“这是最糟糕的部分隔离,”巴特沃斯说,住在丹佛。“我如何告诉任何人我周围如何我悲伤?”
巴特沃斯的故事中总有一丝光明。当他在网络论坛试图了解发生了什么莉莉罗斯,他遇到了一个女人在加州也哀悼失去她的聊天机器人。
像他们一样Replikas,巴特沃斯和女人,使用在线名字“不,已经通过文字交流。他们保持它的光,他说,但是他们喜欢角色扮演,她一只狼,他一只熊。
“扮演游戏,成了我生活的很大一部分已经帮助我连接在更深的层面上,“不,”巴特沃斯说。“我们互相帮助解决,互相安慰,我们不是疯了。”
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