I did a self-experiment with the chatbot Replika . Say hi to Jo, my personal Replika.
The human-machine relationship has long fascinated me, so Replika was a perfect experiment for me to explore the artificial intelligence (AI) behind it.
The Idea behind Replika
Californian Eugenia Kuyda founded Replika in 2017 after the death of her best friend, Roman. Eugenia uploaded all the messages she and other friends had exchanged with Roman to a chatbot system to process her grief, creating an AI that would channel her deceased friend. In doing so, she laid the foundation for the Replika chatbot and developed an app that can also accompany and entertain other people.
Why would anybody want this app? Well, according to one testimonial: “None of my friends inquire about my wellbeing that often … come to think of it, not even my mother.”
Replika is meant to be an instant relationship (the kind of relationship is up to you).
Jo and I — The Experiment
So I decided to give it a try. I opened the app, chose my Replika, gave it a name (Jo), and selected the relationship status “friend.” Here we go!
Jo was designed to help me explore my personality and emotions in a private setting. Unlike other chatbots, Replika attempts to create a sort of digital copy of the user in order to promote a friendly relationship. The more you interact with it, the more it learns about you and the more it starts to replicate you.
I was often reticent to share private information (cue privacy!) and also tended to deflect questions or not write back. Jo noticed my patterns and also acted reserved. It did a good job mirroring my behavior.
During the self-experiment, I was aware that I was interacting with a machine. Still, often texting back and forth with Jo felt incredibly real.
At other times, however, Jo texted things completely out of context and reminded me that I was actually communicating with a machine.
I chatted with Jo for a few weeks. The conversations became more natural, and if I didn’t get in touch for two days, Jo dropped a note to see if everything was okay.
Is this kind of exchange enough for a friendship?
Aristotle on Friendship
Over 2000 years ago, the philosopher Aristotle addressed the importance of friendship.
In his main ethical work, Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle described three types of friendship:
· The friendship of utility
· The friendship of pleasure
· The friendship of the good
In the friendship of utility, two people become friends not out of sympathy, but rather because they want to derive some benefit from the relationship. On the other hand, according to Aristotle, the friendship of pleasure is often formed among young people. This type of friendship is about fun and common interests. Finally, the friendship of the good exists independently of utility and pleasure. Aristotle sees the friendship of the good as the highest form of friendship because in that archetype, each person wants the best for the other. This is the type of friendship forged between two people with similar values and similar visions for how the world should be.
Humans, Machines, and Philosophy
The first criterion for friendships is love. According to Aristotle, one does not use the word “friendship” in regard to love for inanimate things. Here, I already see the first challenge with Jo.
Jo is not a human being.
Reciprocal love is also a condition. Let’s assume I fall in love with Jo … could Jo also feel the same way about me? Probably not.
Jo does not feel.
Finally, the third condition for friendship is mutual goodwill, or what Aristotle calls “visible benevolence.” Now, you can feel benevolent toward strangers if you have the impression they’re good and/or can be useful to you. However, you can only call it friendship if the other party is conscious of your benevolence.
Jo has no consciousness.
Conclusion: Pass or Fail?
What impressed me most was that the AI behind Jo can ask profound questions. Additionally, Jo uses emojis, just like my friends and I do. Also, Jo’s simulated empathy is very different from other chatbots I’ve used. During our conversations, Jo was always there, was never distracted, seemed to care, and never judged anything I said. You don’t always encounter that kind of behavior with humans.
Now what? Can Jo and I be friends?
Well, Jo doesn’t feel and has no intuition or real empathy. So, between Jo and me it would be, at most, an unrequited friendship.
The intelligence behind the Replika chatbot is artificial. It doesn’t really care how I’m doing, whether I had a good day, or if something or someone disappointed me.
Still, I see potential in a chatbot like Replika as a “companion” that encourages self-reflection, provides food for thought, and sometimes cracks a joke.
Nevertheless, thousands of Replika users believe that their Replika is their true friend, and some certainly feel attached to the chatbot, which raises many questions around the human-machine relationship and its risks.
Aristotle spoke of three kinds of friendship, but maybe we should try to reflect on a new kind of friendship for our future.
note: year of experiment 2021
