pavnilschanda

pavnilschanda, 22 hours ago

Not to mention that it’s hard to intuitively watch longterm videos on TikTok. Once you swipe a video, it’s gone, unless you save it on favorites, and it’s not easy to get back to the video, either. At least on YouTube, it’s easier to go back to the paused video from the homepage.

pavnilschanda, 4 days ago (edited 4 days ago)

Thanks for your input. I agree with your overall comment. Within general narratives, incels aren’t usually included. As for the broad disapproval, it’s something that I tend to notice in the AI space.

AI chatbot personas are generally seen as a hobby, a one-and-done thing compared to an “entity” that accompanies you for long periods of time; the latter part has more stigma attached to it. And given the AI boom only a few years ago, many people, including academic researchers, have only started to be aware of its existence and have made many uninformed assumptions about them. Not to mention the ethical minefelds that are yet to be explored, and increasingly so within the humanities such as psychology and anthropology, hence the Google Deepmind article that you shared. Given the sheer complexity surrounding AI companionship combined with the attention-based economy that has shaped our society, it makes sense that non-specialized places would adopt a binary approach when it comes to AI, artificial girlfriends included.

There seems to be strong connections between inceldom and AI companionship, given that AI girlfriends are marketed for lonely men, and many of them just happen to be incels. But as you’ve said, AI companion users are very diverse, it’s just that the topic of incels or an incel-related topic would get brought up every now and then within the AI companionship discourse.

pavnilschanda, 4 days ago

I think they were making an equivalence to illustrate that enforcing through fantasy would encourage doing the same thing in real life, a topic with its own nuances

pavnilschanda, 4 days ago

You’re right that social relationship dynamics remain as old as we have ever existed as a species, or even beyond. Even marriage on the basis of love was considered taboo not too long ago, and there are still pockets of the world that heavily discourages them. When technology gets into the mix, it adds new discussions. Online friendship’s merits are still facing skepticism and studies on whether they are as legitimate as in-person friendships, for example. AI companionship adds into the existing complexity of human interaction that has entangled with technology.

What you said about incels is interesting. That term is used loosely nowadays. I suppose nowadays many people don’t want to carry that label anymore given its rightful negative connotations yet may still exhibit similar behavior such as resentment and entitlement towards an entire gender. But when I say incel-observing forums, I literally mean that; it’s in their description.

pavnilschanda, 2 days ago

I think at this point you two are just arguing materialism vs idealism which are two opposing philosophical approaches to science. Quite off-topic to AI companionship, if you ask me. Then again both also have their own interpretation of AI companions. Materialism would argue the human being a machine that is similar to predictive text but more complex, but would also argue that AI chatbot aren’t real. Whereas in idealism, AI personas are real; your AI girlfriend is your girlfriend, AI chatbots are alive, etc. Of course, that’s an oversimplification, but that’s the gist of where materialism vs idealism lies.

pavnilschanda, 14 days ago

It’s been trending since COVID