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I've tried chatbots, but I just never saw the appeal. But the fact that an AI is on the other end never was a factor, just that communicating sexy things through text never seemed arousing for me. Also, I've never learned to type with one hand. Of course, voiced chatbots with high quality voice acting is likely right around the corner, which would change things significantly.
I did see some ad on Twitter for some virtual AI girlfriend with fake video and everything, so there are definitely corporations who see the great amount of gold that's there to be mined, but I'll say, the current SOTA seems so cringe that it might just snuff out the entire industry before its birth. But then again, the power of horny probably beats the pain of cringe.
I mean, cooming isn't everything they can be used for, and to be honest the novelty wears off pretty fast. I'll have you know they can even be quite educational* at times!
"AI girlfriends" are cringe and fake, I agree. This is not the way, LLMs' innate schizophrenia, sycophancy and adaptability are a much better suit for fictional waifus of some sort instead. I'm genuinely shocked how CAI's massive success, despite being probably the most user-hostile service I've ever seen, is pretty much ignored as a categorical approach - although it's probably because some services honestly try until the inevitable outrage and subsequent crackdown. It's a pattern at this point.
*This poster is not responsible for mental damage incurred from reading the post.
You don't need to convince me of the usefulness of chatbots in general but this was in the context of porn and LLMs. I've used ChatGPT to roleplay like that while teaching me things, but it never occurred to me to make that role a particular sexual activity, though.
Maybe I'm just getting old, but I thought I had a good grasp at what a waifu was from actual direct experience, and I thought "fictional waifu" and "AI girlfriends" were synonyms. What do you see as different about fictional waifus that would reduce the cringe?
They kind of are, but in my mind they're different in that "AI girlfriend" is something like a personalized customizable assistant, Replika-style (usually complete with these cringe-inducing 3d models), and "fictional waifus" is the chub approach focused on RP with many different "characters". Crucially, with the former it seems more natural to act as yourself, a thought at which I honestly shudder; with the latter you're not limited to the sack of meat you inhabit and can freely act as anyone you want and indulge in the dumbest chuunibyou shit (which the AI will eagerly play along with), which for me is the main draw of chatbots in general.
It's like actual (E)RPing but without having to interact with other people, which considering the cringe potential inherent in the activity can only be an upside.
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