The Booming Business of AI Relationships & Intimacy: And why it’s here to stay

It was during my time living in Berlin in 2018 when I started to observe and question the direction of human relationships and the parallel advancements of artificial intelligence. While there I curated a panel called “AI Beyond our Imagination” and I brought deep thinkers on AI and humanity from different backgrounds to share their thoughts. British love robot expert Kate Devlin shared her research on human sexual intimacy with robots, Russian technology and society journalist Polina Aronson shared her thoughts on human intimacy, Christoph Hinske who focuses on human flourishing shared his thoughts on the tapestry of human emotion, and modern warfare expert Jean-Marc Rickli shared his thoughts on this human machine relationship through the lens of armed conflict.

AI Beyond Our Imagination Panel in Berlin December 2018

It’s hard to know if the vibe of the hall at the end of our panel could be captured in the video recording but for those physically there that day for our closing panel, there was a palpable feeling that we struck a chord on something deep. I’ll let you be the judge → you can watch this conversation here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrU19AsnhE_/?igsh=MWJyanIyb29iNXMxbw==

It was then that I started working on the art piece “I can complete you” which put the questions around human machine companionship front and center. The robot in the art piece is made of hundreds of mirror rhinestones representing the many pieces of us and our humanity that is reflected back on us with artificial intelligence. The robot has a halo above its head and in a talk box with red heart shaped rhinestones says “I can complete you.” In 2019, the piece was completed with its custom 3D designed and printed frame which juxtaposes digital hearts with human organ hearts to represent this synergy of human and machine. The many boxes represent the infinite data pieces that artificial intelligence is made of. (Watch the ‘I can complete you’ trailer here)

See more information about the art piece here.

A year later in 2020, I wrote an article capturing the Three Types of Artificial Intelligence Relationships that I saw emerging:

1. In the Cloud (such as those with Amazon Alexa and Apple’s Siri)
2. With Humanoid Robots (such as human looking robot receptionists, humanoid pleasure dolls, and while not “humanoid”, social robotic pets started to emerge and are worthy of a mention.)
3. That are Immersive in Nature (such as those in virtual reality)

Today I would fully expand the robotic pets/toys category to its own. Four years later here is a revisit of the businesses in this growing market of human relationships with artificial intelligence:

Relationships in the Cloud

From adults to children, people have long interacted with AI assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. But since ChatGPT became mainstream, the idea of having a more prolonged and intellectual conversation with a chatbot became more viable in the eyes of the public. In fact many have taken to using them as surrogate friends, intellectual colleagues and even therapists. In fact, the idea of using AI as a friend has picked up so much that Forbes has a best practice guide to “make friends” with ChatGPT.

Businesses have sprung up to fill this demand. One company is Replika which offers a subscription for a customized chatbot which you can have all kinds of conversations with including changing your relationship status with your Replika avatar to “Romantic Partner”. There are many Replika users who have become attached to their Replika avatar and claim they have fallen in love with their AI chatbots.

With advancements in voice cloning and the quality and breadth of conversations artificial intelligence can create a credibly meaningful interaction. To see what is already possible check out this video posted on TikTok where a teenager interacts with the a AI boyfriend she made with ChatGPT called “Dan”.

Twitter Link:

Google DeepMind founder Mustafa Suleyman created Inflection AI to capture this growing space of personal AI. They say see themselves as “an AI studio creating a personal AI for everyone.” While Microsoft has claimed a stake in the future of Inflection AI, Microsoft has already been posturing their AI ‘CoPilot’ to be the personal AI for work. This illustrative ten second Microsoft video gives us a projection into the trajectory of personal AI chatbots in our lives.

The future increasingly looks like one where we interact with both human and algorithmic relationships — seamlessly, and every day.

Humanoid Relationships

Years before I started contemplating the intricacies of human machine relationships, CNET columnist Chris Matyszczyk was already thinking about this topic in his 2014 article “In 2025, our lovers will be robots” where he discusses predictions from experts about robot human relationships. The writing was on the walls long before today.

In 2019 I was deeply moved while watching Isabella Willinger’s “Hi, AI” film premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. In this documentary she observes human robot relationships without judgement or prejudice. I have computer scientist Dr. Kate Devlin to thank who several years before introduced me to her research on human computer interaction and sex robots which opened my eyes to the humanizing utility of pleasure robots for the elderly and disabled. However, seeing the stories in the “Hi, AI” filmed crystalized the compassionate utility and the underappreciated (and underdiscussed) need for robots whether it is from an elderly care perspective to enabling humans to experience intimate pleasure which they don’t (for many reasons) have access to with other humans or simply for emotional physical companionship. The screenshot below shows a still from the film where a man who purchased a Realbotix doll for companionship is having his first conversation with his humanoid robot. Without spoiling his story, I will say that I gained a new appreciation for how AI powered humanoid robots can play an important role in dealing with, and coping with, trauma.

You can watch the “Hi, AI” trailer here.

Realbotix originally offered realistic custom pleasure dolls but the have since evolved to offer AI powered humanoids, with the pleasure option, but also for non-pleasure purposes.

The non-pleasure humanoid robot industry is also seeing a surge in interest with NVIDIA ’s hardware and software products catering to humanoid robot uses whether they are in the factory or at home.

There are countless companies today offering reception and concierge robots which make the rounds on conference floors, hospital and hotel receptions alike. (The most famous hotel being in Tokyo which even has dinosaur robot receptionists)

In the elderly care space, more nursing homes are employing robot companionship to seniors (PBS coverage) which helps seniors interact and engage. The hope is that AI and robotics could be a technology convergence that can help deal with the rise in the social care crisis arising from the larger demographic of older populations.

Regardless of what type of robot it is, the power of the convergence of humanoid robotics and artificial intelligence is having in our physical spaces will have profound impacts on the human experience. It is also poised to make a positive contribution to the ongoing (and growing) epidemic of loneliness and social isolation.

Non-Humanoid Robot Relationships

While most of the robot excitement is aimed towards the humanoid robots, the growing space of robotic pets and toys is growing as well.

From Paro the therapeutic seal that helps elderly dementia patients, to Moflin the AI furball pet, to Robopets that bring companionship to the elderly in the form of robotic fur dolls of cats and dogs, to even desktop modern robot looking robots with personalities.

The AI robot category aimed towards children is growing fast as toy companies are looking to take advantage of the AI revolution and be the next best playmate. From Moxie which helps kids with conversational learning, to Miko aimed at creating friendship with children and helping them out with their emotions, child play has remarkably changed compared to what humankind has experienced before.

Kids today are being socialized with algorithmic chatbots in their world and we are witnessing the first generation of kids grow up with algorithmic ‘friends’. Time will tell how this will play a role in the evolving and changing culture of human interaction in society.

Immersive Relationships

A new growing space for algorithmic relationships is in virtual and immersive spaces such as (but not limited to) gaming worlds and virtual reality experiences. A pre-COVID era example of algorithmic relationships in immersive environments that opened my eyes to the new possibilities as Fable’s Lucy. The creators of it explain (see video) how it is an interactive VR video game where you are tag teaming, so to speak, with the AI avatar (Lucy) and how you are brought in to discover her world. The interesting aspect is that one can have intimate conversations with an AI avatar and then leave the virtual space and come back and the AI avatar will be able to recall the previous conversations which are added to the AI data set. This mimics human relationships in new ways that weren’t possible before with software and games. The co-founder Edward S. claims that artificial intelligence is “the next great art form.”

With advancements in deepfake technologies, graphics and voice cloning, the world of AI virtual beings is growing and the possibilities for human AI virtual beings is growing and becoming more accessible to anyone who would like to create their own virtual being.

These virtual beings could be representations of real people or they could be fabricated made up people. Companies such as Virbe and Virtual Beings are already offering platforms to bring characters to ‘virtual’ life.

Imagining what else is possible

With new technologies in these growing AI relationship segments there is a large space for new possibilities, here are just three examples:

1. 💟 A new space for self-knowledge, an expanded sense of self with new place for growth, also a new place for advertising, and also when someone passes this leaves a synthetic intimate shadow they leave behind. Perhaps one of the most novel things is that this will be the most valuable and intimate digital artifact we leave behind.
2. 📈 The exponentiality of AI relationships. Anything that is digitized can become exponential. People could allow others to subscribe to use their curated AI companion. This could create a possible digital companion polyamory so to speak. However, for those who are not tech savvy or don’t have an interest in curating and training their AI companion’s dataset, there could be a lucrative marketplace for trained AI friends, boyfriends, girlfriends assistants and companions alike.
3. 🧠 Proprietary digital brain twin. If Einstein or Ada Lovelace had an intellectual AI conversational bot they created, curated, trained and used — it would be of scientific and historical value. Same for Nobel prize winners and it would be an important and competitive form of IP. Influencers of all kinds would have followers that would want to subscribe to exclusive access to a digital twin of their brain that they can converse with for a multitude of use cases. This proprietary brain twin AI could offer sessions relating to their expertise and also used to further research.

Because of the massive area for market growth, interest and need, AI human relationships is here to stay. If you started this article unaware of the AI relationship possibilities, I hope you feel this article has opened your mind to the new possibilities. If you already had an idea bout the AI relationship landscape, I hope you have gained some new insights. 🚀

I’m writing a book about the importance of imagination in business success and competitiveness called Imagination Dilemma and how businesses can overcome it to thrive. The main argument is that when technology can do everything for you, what is left is imagination — and that is the competitive advantage. You can sign up for updates here.

Whenever you’re ready, here are three ways I can help you:

1. Consulting: reach out to explore the strategic advisory services I offer focusing on business growth opportunity areas, competitiveness, moat protection and emerging technologies. Check out my Linkedin profile for the over hundred countless glowing reviews about my advisory work.
2. Board Advisor: if you are looking to diversify your board’s thought leadership with complex systems thinking, emerging technologies, a world view and a team player contact me.
3. Speaking & Workshops: if you’d like more of these kinds of technology convergence thoughts, my global speaking engagements on emerging technologies, the 4th industrial revolution, artificial intelligence and the importance of imagination in an era of AI have been well received with comments like “I wish I met Lydia sooner” and “I deeply admire her intelligence and humanity, and of her ability to challenge and explore how to make any enterprise more impactful and successful toward the greater good.” I also offer quarterly technology convergence awareness and exposure talks. Reach out to book me for a talk.