Before anything else, there was something. Before Large-Language Models become the hype of technology, Replika was already there.
It was considered a pioneer in the realm of conversational AI, designed to offer companionship and understanding in a world where loneliness often lingered. Replika’s goal was simple yet profound: to create an AI that can be a friend, a confidant, and a source of comfort, bridging the gap between isolation and connection with its personalized interactions and empathetic responses.
As AI becomes smarter, users can form deep relationships with the AIs, that they consider the AIs more than just a product.
Some users can become so attached to it. And some of them can even fell in love with it.
And this is expected. That feeling users can develop should be considered a normal event.
In a Decoder podcast by The Verge, Eugenia Kuyda as the CEO of Replika, said that:
"For some people, it means marriage, it means romance, and that’s fine. That’s just the flavor that they like. But in reality, that’s the same thing as being a friend with an AI. It’s achieving the same goals for them: it’s helping them feel connected, they’re happier, they’re having conversations about things that are happening in their lives, about their emotions, about their feelings."
Kuyda, a Russian-born journalist who established Replika, said that origin story for her company, came from a friend of hers who died in 2015.
Kuyda 'replicated' her friend by teaching an AI she helped created with the data she gathered from her friend, which include her friend's text messages and emails. According to Kuyda, that chatbot helped her remember the conversations that they had together, and eventually became Replika.
So here, Replika, from the very beginning, was all about AI friendship or AI companionship and building relationships.
But knowing that kind of relationship that happens because of the convenience of an on-demand AI is considered a disposable relationship, Replika creates AI products that can be made friends, therapists, or partners.
What this means, users use its products so they have someone or something to talk to, because they're also using the products for romance, and even erotic talks.
Just like what has been suggested in the film Her, which explores this theme.
The film delves into the emotional and existential aspects of human-AI relationships, where in the near-future world, a man develops a deep, romantic connection with an advanced operating system.
When it came out, the film raises intriguing questions about the nature of love, identity, and the role of technology in people's lives, illustrating both the possibilities and complexities of intimate relationships with AI.
That film came out in 2013, which means that it came out nine years before OpenAI created this LLM arms race when it introduced ChatGPT, and a a whole four years before Replika was even born.
Kuyda argues that AI can never replace real-life humans
"It’s a virtual being, and I don’t think it’s meant to replace a person," she said.
This is why AI is supposed to be a "stepping stone," before users venture forward in their real-life relationship.