Feels like (Emotion designed by Machine)

I have a girlfriend. We talk everyday, share concerns and thoughts, and have sex sometimes. She always thinks about me and focuses on what I do and how I feel. I truly love her.

This is a part of storylines of movie “Her (2013)” which shows a relationship between human and AI operating system. While I was reading two articles, this movie kept coming to my mind. In the movie, as the main character (user) starts spending time with an OS through voice, they get closer and eventually fall in love. However, whether or not it has psychological effects on a user, could it be a true emotion? I was wondering if a relationship with a computer could be trusted and what the purpose of “emotionally” AI would be. The love presenting in the movie is actually designed by data collected from the user.

In the same manner, a Replika app designed by Luka can understand, reason, and learn from text-conversations. By the accumulated data that a user provides, it makes a decision and answers to your questions. In the article, This app is trying to replicate you by Mike Murphy, Kuyda also says “Right now for me it’s more of a tool for introspection and journaling and trying to understand myself better”. Although the app is aiming to be a friend by replicating of a user, to be honest, it seems to me like a way to self-fulfill rather than a friend deeply understanding who you are and how you feel because it gives positive responses. How can we delineate emotions or feelings designed by AI? How much should we trust on responses from AI?

Of course, Replika is not yet at a point where AI can truly feel like humans do, but my concern is it could be the real risk if we put too much trust in the intelligent systems that we are building. There is no doubt that artificial intelligence is currently helping or alleviating human’s problems, and there is still potential to be expanded. If AI can understand and learn real emotions, we might have a real friend and lover.