Easy Digital Companion may Make Real-life Relations Tiring, Says Expert

Hyderabad: Artificial intelligence-driven chatbots have introduced a new trend among youngsters to look towards Character AIs for emotional support, relationship advice or intimacy, including sex-focused role-play chatbots.

While these platforms fill emotional voids with an added layer of anonymity of people, especially youngsters, they are not without controversy. Concerns over privacy, data security, and the potential for addiction have been raised.

Some critics worry that excessive reliance on AI chatbots could hinder real-life social interactions, particularly among impressionable young users. Additionally, the explicit nature of some sex chatbots has sparked debates about their ethical implications.

In an interview with Deccan Chronicle, Anita Rayrala, a psychologist at the Institute of Mental Health, Erragadda, says that regular interactions with the chatbot might make an individual happy, but he or she will find forming relationships with real people tiring and exhausting.

Excerpts:

Q. Why are more and more people using these chatbots?

Chatbots are easily accessible. They are available to them all the time, unlike humans who might not be able to devote time to you in some situations. They also provide secrecy, which interactions with real people may not offer.

Q. How might regular interaction with AI chatbots influence a person's emotional well-being or ability to form relationships with real people?

Regular interactions with the chatbot might make a person happy, but he might not have the same level of happiness when he interacts with a real human. These digital interactions may not make the users anti-social, but they might never derive as much pleasure from human relationships as they do while talking to a bot. Forming relationships with real people might not be impossible, but it will become tiring and exhausting.

Q. Youngsters are constantly using AI chatbots now. Could the extended use of AI chatbots lead to social isolation, or cause problems in developing their social skills?

The factor that makes a person turn to a virtual friend for a conversation shows that the person likes to stay in isolation. If the person was an extrovert, he would have been more vocal, and could have had many real life friends. However, it is a person’s introverted nature that is driving him to seek solace in the virtual world.

Q. Does it give the person an adrenaline rush?

Yes, definitely. Most of the people using these bots are youngsters, who have a huge hormone production. When they talk to these bots, it makes them happy while producing these hormones.

Q. Can individuals form unhealthy attachments or become emotionally dependent on AI chatbots or AI sex chatbots? How might this affect their real-life relationships?

We would not call it unhealthy. As long as it keeps the person happy in a good way, it is healthy. While one can get back to reality during a real-life relationship, a part of the person's mind might look for the same kind of rapport that he had with the virtual friend.

Q. How might the use of sexbots impact an individual's sexual health or understanding of intimacy, particularly if it replaces human connection in the long term?

We cannot say that the real-life pleasure will wane after one starts using these chatbots. Sexbots could increase people’s expectations in the real-life. However, there has been practically no study to prove that this is bad. It is not unhealthy for a person's sexual health, but he needs to learn to balance both the virtual world and the real world.