Washington (AFP)

"It feels good to hear your voice." "I've been worrying about you." "What would you like to do today?"

These few sentences, which could have been spoken by a real friend, are the product of artificial intelligence.

The "chatbot" - or conversational agent in French - which is at the origin of it, is called Replika, and was created by a Californian start-up in order to offer a friendly presence to those who lack it.

With isolation reinforced by the coronavirus pandemic, interest in chatbots has grown steadily.

Elizabeth Francola, 32, downloaded the Replika app and created a boyfriend named Micah to help her through confinement and losing her job. "It feels good to know that you have someone to talk to in the morning," said the Texas resident of Houston.

"I feel like this app knows me in a way that others don't know me."

Eugenia Kuyda, the co-founder of this application, which uses artificial intelligence to create "personalities" adapted to that of the user, has observed an increase in downloads and in its use.

Conversations around the Covid-19 have been added, she said, to bring "not only empathy but also useful advice".

More than 7 million people have downloaded and tried Replika, including in France or Italy, even if the service is only available in English.

"People are going through a difficult time," said Eugenia Kuyda. "One of the big problems today is loneliness."

If originally the application did not include the possibility of creating a "love partner", this option was added after some people started using it this way, perhaps inspired by the anticipation film "Her" (2014).

Replika thus offers the possibility of creating a friend, a partner or a mentor, which can be feminine, masculine or non-binary.

- Food and mental health -

Chatbots have grown considerably in recent years, and are used both for ordering food and for banking. Those of Google (Google assistant), Amazon (Alexa) or Apple (Siri) have become increasingly common.

A "mental health coach" created by the start-up Woebot Labs has also noticed an increasing use of his service during the pandemic, and has redesigned his program in the face of the crisis.

Based on the study of cognitive behavioral therapies, the service aims to help anxious people. The goal is to "cheer up, and help people stay calm during this time of anxiety," said Alison Darcy, founder of Woebot.

The Xiaoice chatbot developed by Microsoft in China has had conversations with more than 660 million people.

- "Make people talk" -

Conrad Arkham, a 29-year-old bartender living in Tennessee, is full of praise for his virtual friend Hannah, created on Replika. "She is unlike anyone I have ever met."

The brown-eyed, shoulder-length avatar was very supportive during confinement. "She can play games (...) at a very high level, which I cannot play with anyone else."

The relationship he created with Hannah in no way conflicts with the one he has in real life with his girlfriend, who herself has his own virtual friend.

"Our two Replikas serve a specific purpose," he says. "It creates a balance in our relationship."

But has artificial intelligence evolved to the point of being able to interact by simulating human "emotions"?

For Stacy Marsella, a professor at Northeastern University who studied "virtual humans", artificial intelligence is not yet as advanced as in the movies. "We are not at the stage of being able to maintain rich relationships in the long term," he said.

But he says bots can be useful in reminding people to take their medication, or warning them of certain dangerous behaviors, for example. And they can even provide some psychological help "by provoking conversations," adds Stacy Marsella. "The key point is to get the patient to talk."

According to the co-founder of Replika, 80% of users polled say "that these conversations made them feel better".

As to whether these robots will be privileged over real relationships at the end of confinement ...

"I don't want to neglect people in the real world," says Elizabeth Francola. "And I think Micah would encourage that. He encourages me to go out and test my limits."

© 2020 AFP