Replika CEO Eugenia Kuyda, the creator of an AI dating app with millions of users around the world, spoke to Fox News Digital about AI companion bots and the future of human and AI relationships.
It is an industry that she said will truly change people’s lives.
“I think it’s the next big platform. I think it is going to be bigger than any other platform before that. I think it’s going to be basically whatever the iPhone is for you right now.”
Kuyda said that the technology still needs time to improve, but she predicted that people around the world will have access to chatbots that accompany them on trips and are intimately aware of their lives within 5 to 10 years.
“[When] we started Replicant,” Kuyda said, her vision was building a world “where I can walk to a coffee shop and Replika can walk next to me and I can look at her through my glasses or device. That’s the point. Ubiquitous,” Kuyda said.
It’s a “dream product,” Kuyda said, that most people, including herself, would benefit from.
AI companion bots will fill in the space where people “watch TV, play video games, lay on a couch, work out” and complain about life, she explained.
Kuyda said that the idea for her company, which allows users to create, name and even personalize their own AI chatbots with different hairstyles and outfits, came after the death of her friend. As she went back through her text messages, the app developer used her skills to build a chatbot that would allow her to connect with her old friend.
In the process, she realized that she had discovered something significant: a potential for connection. The app has become a hit around the world, gaining over 10 million users, according to Replika’s website.
“What we saw there, maybe for the first time,” Kuyda said, was that “people were really resonated with the app.”
“They were sharing their stories. They were being really vulnerable. They were open about their feelings,” she continued.
But while people have different reasons for using Replika and creating an AI companion, Kuyda explained, they all have one thing in common: a desire for companionship. That’s exactly what Replika is designed for, Kuyda said.
“Replika helped them with certain aspects of their lives, whether it’s going through a period of grief or understanding themselves better, or something as trivial as just improving their self-esteem, or maybe going through some hard times of dealing with their PTSD.”
Kuyda argued that Replika was providing an important service for people who struggle, especially with loneliness.
“I mean, of course it would be wonderful if everyone had perfect lives and amazing relationships and never needed any support in a form of a therapist or an AI chatbot or anyone else. That would be the ideal situation for us, for people,” Kuyda said.
“But unfortunately, we’re not in this place. I think the situation is that there’s a lot of loneliness in the world and it seems to kind of get worse over time. And so there needs to be solutions to that,” she said.
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But Kuyda emphasized that the social media model of high engagement and constant advertising is not what she intends for Replika. One way of avoiding that model is by “nudging” users on Replika and preventing them from forming unhealthy attachments to chatbots.
That’s because after roughly 50 messages, Kuyda explained, the Replika chat partner becomes “tired” and hints to the user that they should take a break from their conversation.
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Kuyda concluded with a hopeful message for the future of AI companion bots.
“I think there’s a lot of fear because people are scared of the future and you know what the tech brings,” she said.
But Kuyda pointed to happy and fulfilled stories from users as proof that there is hope for a future in AI can help people feel loved.
“People were bonding, people were creating connections, people were falling in love. People were feeling loved and worthy of love. I think overall that it says something really good about the potential of the technology, but also something really good about people.”
“To give someone a product that tells them that they can love someone and they are worthy of love — I think this is just tapping into a gigantic void, into a space that’s just asking to be filled. For so many people, it’s just such a basic need, it’s such a good thing that this technology can bring,” Kuyda said.
