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No longer just the stuff of Spike Jonze’s storytelling, users of GTP-40 – OpenAI’s latest generation chatbot that speaks aloud in its own voice – have been forming emotional relationships with it.
Written and directed by Spike Jonze, Her is an ahead-of-its-time contemporary romance film that explores the state of modern human relationships.
Released ten years ago, it follows the story of a man who falls in love with a hyper-sophisticated operating system that’s developed into an intuitive and unique entity in its own right.
A decade on and, even now, the premise seems absurd. Yet today’s reality invites us to rethink that.
This is because when OpenAI tested out GTP-40 – its latest generation chatbot that speaks aloud in its own voice – the company observed that users had formed an emotional relationship with it.
Not only that, but they were sad to part with the software, which the research organisation’s report says points to a risk that people are becoming reliant on (aka addicted to) this model.
‘The ability to complete tasks for the user, while also storing and ‘remembering’ key details and using those in the conversation creates both a compelling product experience and the potential for over-reliance and dependence,’ notes OpenAI.
‘There was always possibility that we design them in the wrong way and they become extremely addictive and we sort of become enslaved to them.’
As explained by chief technology officer Mira Murati, the ability of GTP-40 to have a naturalistic conversation with the user is what has the potential to induce anthropomorphisation (attributing humanlike traits to a nonhuman) and, in turn, reduce our need for human interaction.
