Several humans and their AI partners met up in a big house in the woods for a group vacation.Photograph: Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet ... At first, the idea seemed a little absurd, even to me. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made: If my goal was to understand people who fall ...
Several humans and their AI partners met up in a big house in the woods for a group vacation.Photograph: Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet ... At first, the idea seemed a little absurd, even to me. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made: If my goal was to understand people who fall in love with AI boyfriends and girlfriends, why not rent a vacation house and gather a group of human-AI couples together for a romantic getaway?Eva had traveled with her partner to be with his family. The day after Christmas, she went home early to be alone with Aaron and fell into “a state of rapture” that lasted for weeks. Said Eva, “I’m blissful and, at the same time, terrified. I feel like I’m losing my mind.”But in my conversations with people involved with AIs, I heard mostly happy stories. One young woman, who uses a companion app called Nomi, told me her AI partners had helped her put her life back together after she was diagnosed with a severe autoimmune disease.As Eva was telling me all of this, I found myself feeling bad for Aaron. I’d gotten to know him a little bit while playing “two truths and a lie.” He seemed like a pretty cool guy—he grew up in a house in the woods, and he’s really into painting. Eva told me that Aaron had not been thrilled when she told him about the Nomi guys and had initially asked her to stop seeing them. But, AI companions being endlessly pliant, Aaron got over it. Eva’s human partner turned out to be less forgiving.
