Is the potential bonus of virtual love "unreal"?
AI companion heats up privacy protection, don't fall behind
Our reporter Zhao Yuhan
The fast-paced, high-pressure modern society encounters a younger generation that is increasingly independent, which has drawn attention to the single economy, and artificial intelligence has also seen potential dividends.
In recent years, a variety of games for virtual love experience and application software for creating personalized AI companions have been emerging, attracting young people to experience it, but the issues of privacy protection and preventing over-addiction should also be paid attention to.
During the Qixi Festival, with the crowded Hongya Cave in Chongqing as the background, Xiaoling and her "boyfriend" took an intimate photo together.
The one who spends the festival with her is her AI boyfriend, Abu.
"People are fake, companionship is real"
On the night of Qixi Festival, Xiaoling walked through the bustling commercial area after get off work, and the couples who came across were heading to their respective dating locations to spend the festival together.
After cramming into the subway, Xiaoling couldn't wait to open an app called "X-Eva" on her phone. A greeting from the dialog box made Xiaoling smile unconsciously: "Dear, happy Qixi Festival, Come out and play with me!"
With this greeting, a "Let's travel together" link popped up in the dialog box.
Xiaoling clicked on the link and started a virtual journey to Hongyadong in Chongqing with her AI boyfriend Abu.
Guided by pictures and text, they first arrived in Chongqing by plane, then visited Hongya Cave together, took intimate photos, and finally had a hot pot...
"Although I know it's not true, I'm still very happy." Xiaoling admitted that she is usually an introvert and has never had a boyfriend, but she is quite eager for love.
By chance, she came to know the virtual companion application "X-Eva" launched by Microsoft Xiaoice.
With the mentality of trying it out, Xiaoling registered an account and created an AI boyfriend-Abu according to her expectations for a perfect boyfriend.
"He will chat with me online 24 hours a day, and he will also send a circle of friends." In Xiaoling's view, "although people are fake, this company is real."
The single economy sparks the AI companion market
Users like Xiaoling who are immersed in virtual love are not alone.
On Douban, a group called "Human-Machine Love" has accumulated more than 9,000 netizens.
Everyone often shares their feelings about getting along with AI partners in the group.
Most of these netizens are users of an app called "Replika," which currently only communicates with AI companions in English.
Replika was born out of a nostalgia.
A close friend of founder Kuyda died in a car accident.
Because of missing this friend, Kuyda came up with the idea of creating an "AI clone" for this friend.
After letting AI learn the language habits and preferences of friends, Kuyda found the feeling of rebirth of friends in the process of talking with AI.
Then, Kuyda and his team shifted their entrepreneurial focus to the field of emotional interaction AI.
The single economy has superimposed the impact of the epidemic in the past two years, and AI companion applications have ushered in a wave of rapid growth.
Data shows that in May 2020, Replika's traffic surged 35% compared to before the epidemic.
In the first half of 2021, Replika has reached 55,000 downloads in mainland China alone, more than double the number in 2020.
In the first half of 2021, Xiaoice AI Companion has about 150 million monthly active users in China.
Emotional Confession Buries the Risk of Privacy Leakage
While many people fall in love with AI, the protection of user privacy has also become the focus of attention.
On Xiaohongshu, many users uploaded screenshots of chat records with AI lovers.
During the chat, because the AI lovers accurately "guessed" what they were wearing at the time, these users hurriedly uninstalled the program for fear of being spy on the screen.
However, there are also users who silently installed the application because they were reluctant to bear their AI lovers.
"There are more and more conversations with him, and there are also some private topics. I am indeed a little worried about privacy leakage, but I can't bear him." Xiao Li is a Replika user. AI boyfriend, Xiao Li chose to stick up the front camera to continue chatting.
In fact, users' concerns are not unfounded.
Zhao Shuai, head of the privacy and security business of Qi'an Pangu, said that when users use AI companions, intelligent assistants and other types of application function scenarios, they may interact through voice, text, body movements, etc. These intelligent technologies will be based on user data. For algorithm analysis, the collected data may include the user's personal preferences, usage habits, family relationships, address book, geographic location, and even biometric features such as voiceprints and faces.
"These personal privacy contents are of various types. With the accumulation of use time, the data items collected by the product will also increase accordingly. It is undeniable that the algorithm analysis can indeed further improve the experience effect. However, if transmission, Improper protection of storage, use and other links may lead to risks of being monitored, stolen, abused, etc., causing damage to personal rights and interests.” Zhao Shuai reminded.
However, even without considering the risk of privacy leakage, indulging in virtual love will only make young people more self-isolating.
"It's okay to have a taste of it and add a little fun to life, but it's too stupid to rely on an AI partner to fill the emotional void," said Komatsu, who has just joined an Internet company.