Exit
man-machine love affairs might
unfold. Set in the not-so-distant
future, the love story is eerily
plausible. Theodore, a depressed
divorcé, falls in love with “the
first artificially intelligent operating system,” Samantha, and,
like most human couples, the two
have sex, bicker, vacation and
even double-date.
To some, this digital romance
might seem as plausible as talking animals or zombies. Look
closer, however, and you’ll see
that these cyber-soulmates are
not only coming, but, in some respects, are already here.
Our devices are becoming more
sensitive to our feelings, more
in tune with our desires, more
in sync with our activities, more
gifted at expressing themselves
and more adept at understanding our language. We may be approaching an era when we use
our computers not to access one
another, but for the companionship of the software itself. It’s
a love affair with “no one.” And
where that leaves the humans —
who are more selfish than software — may be anyone’s guess.
“There already are people who
display the behavior of the character in Her with machines far
TECH
HUFFINGTON
01.19.14
less capable than the operating
system shown in that movie,”
said John Sullins, a professor at
Sonoma State University who
studies the philosophical implications of artificial intelligence.
“What we would need is an operating system that would have the
ability to both recognize human
emotions and display appropriate
reactions ... When that happens,
everyone’s going to be in love
As these devices
become more personal and
they get to know us, that
bond and relationship we
feel with our devices will
only start to strengthen.”
with their machines.”
In his book, Love and Sex with
Robots, artificial intelligence expert David Levy predicts robots
and humans will be falling in
love by 2050. (He likens naysayers to the skeptics who believed
the world was flat.)
A 2013 survey found that 57
percent of cell phone owners felt a
“personal connection” to their virtual assistants, and more than half
had named their artificial helpers.