He sees erotic bots as \u201cone part of your spectrum of relationships,\u201d rather than a replacement for human connection, where users can \u201cindulge a kink\u201d they might not get to explore IRL.<\/p>\n
Prompt Pleasure<\/p>\n
When imagining who\u2019s actually going to use a chatbot for sexual pleasure, it\u2019s easy to picture some stereotypical greasy-haired straight guy who hasn\u2019t left his house in a few days or feels alienated from physical connection in other ways. After all, men were quicker to start<\/a> using generative AI tools, and now discussions about the male \u201cloneliness epidemic<\/a>\u201d feel inescapable.<\/p>\n Devlin pushes back against the idea that \u201cincel types\u201d are the only people turning to AI bots for fulfilment. \u201cThere’s a general perception that this is for lonely straight men, and that’s not been the case in any of the research I’ve done,\u201d she says. She points to the r\/MyBoyfriendIsAI subreddit<\/a> as one example of women using ChatGPT for companionship.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you think that these kinds of relationships have risks, let me introduce you to human relationships,\u201d says McArthur. Devlin echoes this sentiment, saying that women are faced with torrents of toxicity from men online, so opting to \u201cmake yourself a nice, respectful boyfriend\u201d out of a chatbot makes sense to her.<\/p>\n Carpenter is more cautious and clinical in her approach to ChatGPT. \u201cPeople shouldn’t automatically put it in a social category of something that you can share intimacy with or that it’s friend-like or should be trusted,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not your friend.\u201d She says bot interactions should be classified into a novel social category that\u2019s differentiated from human-to-human interactions.<\/p>\n