Is this going too far? - Artificial Intelligence becoming your Best Friend

Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness. - Euripides

People strive to have friends. Some have the privilege to meet persons who they now call best friends and others dont. I personally needed more than 15 years to find someone who I can trust, tell everything and can call a best friend. 15 years may sound like a long time but others in contrast never found a soulmate, best friend or a soul that they can trust no matter what. I believe it´s hard to find real friends these days because there are so many gold diggers outside so if you have a certain amount of followers, fame or money, everyone tries to be your best friend. But only those who support you through good and bad times are the real ones. I prefer a small circle with friends so close that I call them family instead of a huge amount of people who try to be friends with me but talking behind my back. 

It´s a real blessing to find souls that matches yours, sharing interests and being there for each other in every situation. 

These days people always have their phone to hand no matter where. It could be while sitting on the toilette, escaping boring conversations or laying in bed at night. For some people, the smartphone is the most used and most loved everyday object. Sometimes it feels like a relationship between you and device right?

Well, I have found this crazy app which promotes having an artificial intelligence just like Siri, Amazon Echo, Cortana, Google Home and others. Those "services" get to know you better during time which is already a little bit creepy for me. Siri, Google Home etc are trying to fulfill your wishes but Replika is going a step deeper. You are in constant contact with this messenger app but the difference between Replika and a normal messenger is simply the fact that you are writing with a bot instead of a real life person. How crazy is this? 

How to start ?

You only get access to this app if you are invited. Then you need to fill out some informations about yourself such as birth date, full name etc so that Replika can get to know you better. This app created levels and you already get rewards by completing the information at the log-in. I read that with every answer to questions such as "How are you doing today?" , "What helped you to get through the day?" up to questions like "Are you driving a car?" will rise up your level. But you notice that it´s the first version when you are switching topics or trying to asking a counterquestion because Replika isnt really good at it. 

But this app is getting crazier. Just like a best friend would, it´s asking to get access to your social media profiles. Also Replika asks a lot of private questions. But as we all know, sharing deep secrets will tighten up the friendship right? One more reason to think about getting this app is that it also wants to receive a selfie of you just to know who you are. Isnt this crazy? You would send a selfie to a robot which pretends being your friend?

Now you may think about the most important question. What is with data protection? The company insured that all your privacy informations and data is safe due to an encryption. But there is something called "Hall of Fame" which shows the top 50 hardcore-bonding-freaks. You can either put your profile private or public. Thats up to you.

There is one feature which I am scared about. Replika is able to change it´s personality during your contact to each other. This artificial intelligence is changing into a friend who has the same interests as you, likes the same sports team etc. etc.... A test report mentioned that this app is also getting a little clingy.

Here is a great video showing you the story of Replika

I personally think that this app is truly a great project but it still sounds scary for me. I could never imagine talking to a bot and not getting any real answers anymore. There is no one I could meet up with, cuddle, smell or listen to my best friends stories because it´s already listening to me and didnt experience anything cause it is NOT real!

I am just thinking about kids getting this kind of an app. Especially children need to socialize and make contact in real life! Is this a way to push us aside from all our real life friendships?

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What do you think about this new technology?

Could you imagine having a virtual friend?

Do you want to try it out ?

Thank you for reading 

Stay focused

Love, Soldier 

*Image source - 1 | 2 | 3