Our Thursday episodes are all about big topics in the news, and this week we’re wrapping up our short series on one of the biggest topics of all: generative AI. In our last couple episodes, we talked a lot about some of the biggest, most complicated legal and policy questions surrounding the modern AI industry, including copyright lawsuits and deepfake legislation. But we wanted to end on a more personal note: How is this technology making people feel, and in particular how is it affecting how people communicate and connect?

Verge reporter Miya David has covered AI chatbots — specifically AI romance bots — quite a bit, so we invited her onto the show to talk about how generative AI is finding its way into dating. We not only discussed how this technology is affecting dating apps and human relationships, but also how the boom in AI chatbot sophistication is laying the groundwork for a generation of people who might form meaningful relationships with so-called AI companions.

Links:

Speak, Memory — The Verge
A conversation with Bing’s chatbot left me deeply unsettled — NYT
Google suspends engineer who claims its AI is sentient — The Verge
The law of AI girlfriends — The Verge
Replika’s new AI therapy app tries to bring you to a zen island — The Verge
Replika’s new AI app is like Tinder but with sexy chatbots — Gizmodo
Don’t date robots; their privacy policies are terrible — The Verge
AI is shaking up online dating with chatbots that are ‘flirty but not too flirty’ — CNBC
Loneliness and suicide mitigation for students using GPT3-enabled chatbots — Nature
Virtual valentine: People are turning to AI in search of emotional connections — CBS

Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23856679

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

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