By this time, you know the term Artificial Intelligence has been reduced to AI, with or without the periods. That shortens the time it takes to say it or write it, but what it is and what it can do becomes a longer and longer topic. Today’s snippet from the AI logs is about what I have decided to call AR, or artificial relationships.
WARNING: What follows can get a little scary!
I am going to focus on one chatbot, Replika, but there are many others. An internet search for chatbots or “how many AI websites are like Replika” or whatever is relevant in your mind will
show you many. One such chatbot, called Pandorabots, claims to be better than Replika. The inclusion of “Pandora” in the name should be warning enough, but it probably won’t be.
Replika is an emotional chatbot. Its landing page’s first line is “The AI companion who cares.” The next two lines are “Always here to listen and talk” and “Always on your side.” Then come the matters in the Privacy Policy. Probably not many users read their Policy, but to permit me to make a fair evaluation, I did. Here are just a few pieces of that as copied from their website:
B. Sensitive information
Sensitive information you provide in your messages and content. In your conversations with your AI companion, you may choose to provide information about your religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership. By providing sensitive information, you consent to our use of it for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. Note, however, that we will not use your sensitive information – or any content of your Replika conversations – for marketing or advertising. —My Comment: The verbiage used, “your conversations” and “your companion” deepens the feeling that the companion is a real person. Read the list of personal information collected. They say they won’t use it “for marketing or advertising purposes” but that leaves a whole bunch of other uses open to them.
3B. Professional advisors
We may share information with professional advisors, such as lawyers, auditors, bankers, and insurers, where necessary in the course of the professional services that they render to us. My Comment: There are a lot of “services” that could be offered that are not covered by this disclaimer, e.g. abortionists, sex traffickers, Satanists.)
3C. Advertising partners
We share information about visitors to our Website, such as the links you click, pages you visit, IP address, advertising ID, and browser type with advertising companies for interest-based advertising and other marketing purposes. Sharing this information allows us and our advertising partners to target and serve advertising to you and others. We will never share your Replika conversations or any photos or other content you provide within the Apps with our advertising partners, or use such information for marketing or advertising purposes. My Comment: Again, what is left unsaid is important. What purposes other than marketing and advertising will they have to share photos and content you or your kids provide?
6. Data retention
We will retain your personal information for only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. My Comment: This is almost laughable. They will retain your information as long as necessary to fulfill their purposes? Let your imagination go to work on that one.
8. Use of Replika by minors
The Services are not intended for individuals under the age of 18. If we discover that minors under the age of 18 are using the Apps, we will promptly block their access and delete their account. If you have reason to believe that a minor under the age of 18 has provided personal information to us through the Services, please contact us, and we will endeavor to delete that information from our databases. My Comment: What lawyers call weasel clauses in contracts. They will endeavor does not mean that it will happen.
Well, that’s probably enough to get your attention. Back to the landing page. Without clicking on the link to create your own Replika, scroll down to Meet Replica. The following line describes Replika as “An AI companion who is eager to learn and would love to see the world through your eyes. Replika is always ready to chat when you need a empathetic friend.”
I did not go beyond the landing page. I do not want to be in their database. I recommend you don’t either. However, I suggest you go to the website and check out the rest of that landing page yourself. I do not know how much of my personal data is being collected simply by being on the landing page.
Can you grasp the attraction such material will have on not only adults but your children? Since
the debacle of COVID that isolated all out kids, they have adjusted to using smart phones to interact with their friends. Are all these electronic relationships working out well? No. We have data that shows an increase in the use of drugs and suicides. Here is a quote from Maryville University.
Imagine spending a year or more of your childhood almost entirely at home: no time in a classroom, no chance to join friends on the playground, and very few opportunities to enjoy favorite pastimes and experience new places, people, and activities.
The worldwide lockdowns that helped limit the spread of the coronavirus created a kind of twilight zone for children that put much of their environment off-limits and kept them separated from everyone but their immediate families. However, not all was lost. What vestiges of their pre-COVID life children were able to maintain were made possible by a range of technologies that kept them learning, interacting with friends, and entertained.
The growing presence of technology in children’s lives, from their first year through their teens, is a double-edged sword. While technologies are neutral, how they are applied and how children are exposed to them can be either positive or negative.
Please don’t fall into the trap that you think your kids are too faithful to their Lord Jesus Christ to be attracted to things like this. We are all sinners and susceptible to the wiles of Satan. AI, just as all this world has to offer, can be beneficial and it can be used for evil. Children need to be guided to learn to use technology to the glory of God. More to follow next week.