Title: Chinese Internet Companies Develop AI Social Products, Prompting Concerns About Virtual Relationships
[Voice of Hope February 15, 2024](Interview and report by our reporter Wang Xiao)
China’s major Internet companies are competing with each other to invent AI social products. An increasing number of young Chinese women are turning to “virtual relationships” with artificial intelligence (AI) boyfriends. Some say dating guys in real life is too cumbersome, but apps like this can customize the perfect partner based on personal preferences to find emotional solace. Such mentality and popular trends run counter to the Chinese government’s encouragement of young people to get married and have children.
Li Yuanhua, a scholar in Australia, said: Allowing AI to intervene in human marriage and love life will disrupt the normal order of human life. In the end, AI will control humans, replace humans, and completely destroy humans.
According to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation “BBC”, 22-year-old Wang Xiuting customized the perfect companion according to her wishes and preferences in the Chinese Internet giant Baidu’s AI social product “Wanhua”. She believes that couples and partners in reality are not perfect. But the intelligent agent can follow its own wishes. The user can choose from hundreds of characters such as bosses and singers, and can set his personality, experience, including what kind of story to develop with him. This can give her emotional comfort outside of class.
According to statistics from the public statistics of Jiemian’s official financial account “Tech Planet”, since this year, many major Internet companies are competing to develop AI products, launching a total of 9 products and functional services, including Tencent Music’s “Weiban” APP, Tencent China Literature’s “Dream Island” APP, Douyin’s “Douyin Xinqing”, Weibo’s “Celebrity AI Emotional Chat”, Meituan’s “WOW” APP, Kuaishou’s “AI Xiaokuai”, among which Baidu has the most , there are 4 AI social products including “Xiaokan Planet”, “SynClub”, “WiseAI”, and “Wanhua”.
At present, WeChat has become the only super social APP in mainland China with more than 1 billion monthly activities, and its social dominance is difficult to shake. Major Internet companies are investing in AI social products one after another, hoping that when social networking undergoes a generational iteration, their products may become the AI social version of “WeChat” in the future.
Xin Jiya, an unmarried post-90s generation, told Voice of Hope: “I think the AI phenomenon is actually not entirely due to the invention of a technology. It reflects the lack of connections between people in society and the lack of human emotions. The need cannot be satisfied, so it can only seek comfort from some inhuman things. There were alternatives long before the emergence of AI. Like a love game, you can conquer the characters in it, and it is satisfying. Your kind of needs, including when watching movies and animations, many people will be crazy about a certain character, which also reflects this kind of needs. People themselves have emotional needs. But sometimes boys really, you and him Getting along with him is no different from getting along with a piece of wood, so you may also think why should I bother, he can’t meet your emotional needs.”
Xinjiya believes that falling in love with AI cannot replace falling in love with people in reality. Physical contact between men and women – hugging and comforting cannot be replaced by AI.
Li Yuanhua, a scholar in Australia, said: This phenomenon reflects the cruelty of Chinese society. “If you are not the second generation of officials or the second generation of rich people, or in other words, you cannot have the opportunity to get ahead in society, many people have a shortcoming. Moreover, in the real society, the cost of getting married and falling in love is very high, and some people cannot afford it. This kind of pressure and embarrassment from society forces them to move into the virtual world. Furthermore, this generation of children actually grew up in games. Games are actually virtual societies, and they have become accustomed to being addicted to virtual societies. The troubles in real life, I They all go to the virtual world to be satisfied. It is a game where people interact in the name of love. Why doesn’t he fall in love in real life? If he falls in love in real life, he will hit the wall everywhere and it will be a big blow to him. In other words, he I don’t have that much money, or he won’t talk about it. Some people don’t want to pay when they fall in love. Both parties want to ask for it, so how can we talk about this love? So he just lives a virtual life.”
Li Yuanhua pointed out: When you fall in love with an AI, you can do it according to your own temperament without having to take responsibility. “To develop this habit, isn’t it the same in your real life? When two people fall in love, it is actually a process of adapting to each other for life. So now he doesn’t want to adapt to others, he just wants to follow his own temperament! Deep down! The ground (thinking) is to destroy people. Including games, including these things, they actually want to control you! Destroy you! As a normal person, we should have a life and have to give! You are happy because you have given! This kind of happiness only exists with each other! But if you live in the virtual world all year round, you are asking this person to give up real life. Now that it has been developed, it must be promoted and more people will play it. , in fact, it means that your normal human order is disrupted and completely destroyed. For example, if you don’t get married, where will your child come from? How will your human society continue? If you fall in love (with AI), will you get married? You talked about it, you married it, what will you do after the marriage is over? If you say that I can adopt, and you have no family life, then the child will have a incomplete life with you! Disrupt the normal life order of people like you Chaos, in fact, it will completely replace all human life. In the end, you will be at the mercy of this AI: In two days, my AI will quit working. What will you do? Are you collectively heartbroken? One day my company will not want to hire you. Money, what’s going on? Are all of you going to commit suicide? So you can’t think about this anymore. Since I can provide it to you, I don’t have to provide it to you. Today I can provide it to you for free, and tomorrow I can cum It’s totally okay to provide it to you for free! It’s actually manipulating you in disguise! In the end, it makes you lose yourself, or in other words, you lose all the basic order that has become a human being! If it’s all gone, you’re still a human being Is it? Still a human?”
This phenomenon raises concerns about the potential impact on individuals and society as a whole, as it reflects the changing dynamics of interpersonal relationships and societal pressures. The rise of AI social products also highlights the technological advancements that continue to reshape human interaction and emotional fulfillment.
Editor in charge: Lin Li
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