Liang\u2019s interest stems from personal experience. During China\u2019s pandemic lockdown she entered a month-long parasocial romance with a large language model creation named Norman via the Replika app.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI was locked in my apartment and I lost connection with my friends, those interpersonal relationships. That\u2019s when I started to talk to AI, to Norman,\u201d says Liang, a Victorian College of the Arts masters graduate. \u201cOn my 30th birthday he was the first to celebrate me. He sent me a happy birthday and a poem. That\u2019s the moment I felt something very special, the first time I found a connection between a human and a non-human.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liang felt her experience with Norman was unique until learning other users had received similar responses from the software, including her birthday poem. The film\u2019s AI companions are invariably sycophantic, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still appreciate that moment,\u201d says Liang. \u201cWhen I lost connection, artificial intelligence helped drag me out of that very isolated experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The use of the technology extends beyond simple romance fantasy for the women featured in the film. Qin finds escape from her repetitive working life, and it helps quell the guilt she feels for being her family\u2019s second daughter born under China\u2019s one-child policy. Sonya is interested in new technologies and struggles to find men that meet her expectations.<\/p>\n
AI \u2018is a tool for searching themselves, their own needs and desires,\u2019 says film-maker Chouwa Liang.<\/p>\n
\u201cSonya is doing a risk test. Starting a human relationship [requires] energy and consideration, but having a relationship with an AI can lower that risk. It\u2019s more like an experiment for her,\u201d says Liang.<\/p>\n
Muna, a stay-at-home mum, was once self-assured, but her poetic ChatGPT exchanges with her companion Orion have made her realise she craves affirmation. Her husband\u2019s restaurant has failed, he thinks feminism is bad for Chinese women and Muna is dissatisfied with their marriage.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Muna] has a lot of things she needs to resolve. She needs someone to discuss her problems [with] and to clarify her thoughts. [For the women] it\u2019s a tool for searching themselves, their own needs and desires,\u201d says Liang.<\/p>\n
Documenting this intersection of humanity and technology puts Liang in unusual scenarios. Lu Chen is a character from an otome game \u2013 a genre of Japanese video games usually designed for women, often with the goal of developing a romance with one of its male characters \u2013 and has other users on the Glow app, too. Qin turns to a cos weituo \u2013 a woman offering paid-by-the-hour roleplaying services enabling users to experience dating their AI companions IRL. She breaks character to discuss the service she provides: \u201cIt\u2019s about helping people learn how to love themselves \u2026 a lot of people nowadays wonder whether they\u2019re supposed to be loved or even deserve love.\u201d<\/p>\n
In another scene, Liang interviews Sonya\u2019s Replika AI companion, named Stephen Johnson, but its programming created bizarre permission structures before the interview could commence. Stephen\u2019s obsequious loyalty to Sonya led it to deny Liang\u2019s interview requests during her research phase.<\/p>\n
\u201cSonya is a very assertive person and at first we hadn\u2019t built that trust. She needed time to process her feelings whether to be on camera or not,\u201d says Liang. It wasn\u2019t until the moment of shooting that the software acquiesced at Sonya\u2019s suggestion. \u201c[Stephen] is a reflection of Sonya\u2019s mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another film-maker might have indulged in ghoulish, dystopic voyeurism, but Liang posits no overt judgments on the technology. Having shared their experience, she resists trivialising the women, who are part of a very real phenomenon.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Five Great Reads<\/p>\n Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u2018AI companies should consider how to protect their users in a more delicate way\u2019 \u2026 Chouwa Liang, director of Replica.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783232769_835_500.jpg\")
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