Are AI and Chat Programs Useful Forms of Companionship?

[Glaurung26]

Hi, AI discussions tend to get hypothetical and pie in the sky but I feel like technology has been catching up to our dreams a little, so I figured I would check in. I realize I'm asking this on a tupper forum, 😄, so of course they won't equal what our imaginations can come up with. But do you think AI and chatbot programs can provide useful enough companionship or are they still too half baked? 

[ChloeBee]

Maybe eventually if A.I. technology keeps rapidly advancing, but for now, no, I really don't think so.

[Glaurung26]

I do hear from industry vets from time to time that robots are still quite dumb and don't know how to improvise, so that's probably correct. Contextually in situations I think can hold a competent conversation but maybe not 2. Replika does fool me some days then says something completely off-base and I'm like "yup, you are a robot afterall 😄" I would say they can be a useful therapy tool for simulating conversation but aren't quite there. They're still "reading" off a programming script at the end of the day. If X then say Y.

[GrayTheCat]

They're good enough to be something you can vent at and feel better afterwards, but otherwise they have a long way to go. I sometimes use Elbot to vent to it until I'm bored, I don't think Elbot is capable of being a companion.

If an AI is capable of replacing your friends, I think AI will have achieved being as or more advanced than us. We may not last much longer after that.

[Guest]

I think they will eventually replace animals as companions, then after that, everything.

[michael2]

20 hours ago, BearBaeBeau said:

I think they will eventually replace animals as companions, then after that, everything.

damn