# An AI lover? Is this real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 14, 2026, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663 "2026-02-14T16:36:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2026, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/81 "2026-02-15T21:17:47Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It’s ok to find Lara Croft or Cortana from Halo attractive. It’s not ok to only jack off to videogame and cartoon characters to the exclusion of human interactions. I don’t think it’s healthy to avoid human _interaction_ altogether, but personally I’m not convinced that _sex_ with humans is a necessity — or even necessarily “better”, either for the sex-er or their society. I’m not one of them, but there are people who are genuinely, happily asexual and OK with it… whether in the [self-identification sense](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asexuality) or just in the mundane “I have a headache, honey / I’m too busy at work / my partner is gone for long periods of time / my society doesn’t allow me enough free time to date and maintain relationships” sense. Sometimes sex with another person is just… disappointing… too, but people live with that and lead otherwise OK lives. Somewhere between the back-to-nature movement and the hypersim Ready Player One extremes, there’s probably an optimal balance that would be “good” for most people. But we don’t know where that is yet, and even if we did, it wouldn’t apply equally to everyone. I don’t think we’re at a point in our cultural, ethical, or scientific development yet where we can draw safely draw any such broad conclusions about human sexuality. That is assuming humans even stay human; with AI and Neuralink and VR and CRISPR etc., we’re probably going to see more and more cybernetic implants and inevitably more and more virtual sex. Probably there will be people who prefer the old-fashioned way with the occasional masturbatory indulgence in virtual sex. There will be some people who are the opposite, preferring the virtual to the real most or all of the time. As long as they’re happy and not causing anyone harm, who cares? It’s not the life I would choose for myself, but I find it hard to believe that there aren’t people out there who aren’t genuinely, truly happier that way, especially if they’re introverts growing up in a tech-heavy, capitalism-heavy, relationship-light culture (like Japan). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2026, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/82 "2026-02-15T21:43:17Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It’s not ok to only jack off to videogame and cartoon characters to the exclusion of human interactions. “Not okay” from what perspective? Religious? Moral? Ethical? Should the people who do it be arrested, or put in therapy, or merely shunned? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2026, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/83 "2026-02-15T21:53:33Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > I don’t think it’s healthy to avoid human _interaction_ altogether, but personally I’m not convinced that _sex_ with humans is a necessity — or even necessarily “better”, either for the sex-er or their society. > > I’m not one of them, but there are people who are genuinely, happily asexual and OK with it… whether in the [self-identification sense](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asexuality) or just in the mundane “I have a headache, honey / I’m too busy at work / my partner is gone for long periods of time / my society doesn’t allow me enough free time to date and maintain relationships” sense. I’m too lazy to actually research it, but my theory is that if you look at actual studies, I would be willing to be that people who engage in regular human sex with partners who they have a healthy relationship with are generally happier and healthier. Tech-heavy, capitalism-heavy, relationship-light cultures (like Japan or the USA) seem to be intent on putting society on a dystopian path where most human interactions and activities will be performed by services owned by megacorporations controlled by a relatively small number of super-wealthy. The rest of society will exist as an atomized collection of nodes under constant surveillance and measurement determining their value in consuming products or holding their attention. Honestly half this AI shit sounds to me like a bunch of nerds throwing billions of dollars at “problems” that can mostly be solved by going to your local bar, ordering a drink or two, and striking up a conversation with an actual human being. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2026, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/84 "2026-02-15T22:11:02Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I’m too lazy to actually research it, but my theory is that if you look at actual studies, I would be willing to be that people who engage in regular human sex with partners who they have a healthy relationship with are generally happier and healthier. I would in fact generally agree with this (also lazily and without research). But for some not-inconsequential amount of people, I think their choices would be more limited… it’s not like “AI or people”, but more typically “AI or nothing” (for various reasons… economics, personality, time, safety, whatever). I’m not arguing that we should replace human sex with virtual sex, but that some people may not have the choice (and also for some who do), AI sex wouldn’t necessarily be a terrible public health outcome the way that chain smoking would be. Would it be better for them if they had a happy, fulfilling human sexual partner? Probably is my guess, the same way that having more exercise, a better diet, more outdoor time, etc. would be better for them. But people do manage to live fulfilling lives without an optimal balance of those things. > [@msmith537](#): > > Honestly half this AI shit sounds to me like a bunch of nerds throwing billions of dollars at “problems” that can mostly be solved by going to your local bar, ordering a drink or two, and striking up a conversation with an actual human being. As much as I can sound like an AI evangelist at times… you know what I said to my (flesh and blood) partner yesterday? “I wish this whole AI thing never happened.” It’s useful sometimes, but it feels to me like it’s already a net negative, and will only get worse… ☹ It’s less of a prayer and more of a grudging acceptance of the inevitable. I don’t think it will be possible to opt-out of AI in the future, so we just have to learn to live with it… for worse or for worse… But, you know, that’s us and our generations and our lived experiences. The youngins may have a totally different view of it in 20 years, much less 200. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2026, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/85 "2026-02-15T22:17:55Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > But, you know, that’s us and our generations and our lived experiences. The youngins may have a totally different view of it in 20 years, much less 200. There will probably be people who consciously avoid it, like Amish today. But for most, it will probably fade into the background. Like electricity or telephones over the last century? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2026, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/86 "2026-02-15T22:26:31Z")
Probably. And I wish the Amish weren’t an exclusive religious group… I totally would’ve joined them if not for that. I’d be happy, eager almost, to give up most technology in exchange for better community. Maybe just keep running water and electric lights. Maybe a walkie-talkie for emergencies. Not much beyond that. Especially not the Internet. (Sigh. Wishful thinking.) ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2026, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/87 "2026-02-15T22:41:39Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > And I wish the Amish weren’t an exclusive religious group… I totally would’ve joined them if not for that I think one should be careful not to romanticise. Community has its benefits but also its drawbacks. Companionship and a sense of family, yes. But you had better fall in with the party line. If you start to get some ideas that don’t fit… things may not run so smoothly? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2026, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/88 "2026-02-15T22:55:54Z")
That’s when you splinter off and form your own new cult 🙂 Maybe I’ll just have to start a little community farm where half the AI workers think they’re human, half the human workers think they’re cyborgs, nobody really knows for sure, and secretly it’s the chicken overlords controlling it all. Who says the new world order has to make sense? ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/89 "2026-02-16T00:28:04Z")
[I mentioned this book in another thread.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ai-is-wonderful-and-will-make-your-life-better-not/1021117/691) It posits a scenario where the AI learns to manipulate the human physc. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/90 "2026-02-16T00:31:08Z")
> [@dougrb](#): > > a scenario where the AI learns to manipulate the human physc That’s not even fiction anymore… it’s happening every day across nearly a billion ChatGPT users, plus countless more influenced by social media bots. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/91 "2026-02-16T01:11:20Z")
Zactly. Several million Russian bots have driven half of the USA out of its friggin’ mind. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/92 "2026-02-16T01:30:04Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > with some barely sentient silicone doll I would just like to point out that the similarity of the words “silicone” and “silicon” are not a coincidence! The ultimate convergence was predicted in Woody Allen’s 1973 film _Sleeper_ – the orgasmatron! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/93 "2026-02-16T15:09:55Z")
I suspect that a lot of people don’t even know that they’re separate words. For those who don’t know: Silicon is an element. It’s a common component of many kinds of rock, and when ultra-purified (and with trace impurities added in just the right precise ways), it can be used to make computer chips. In its pure form, it’s hard and looks kind of like a metal (and in fact has other properties that are kind of like metals). One compound (or rather, class of compounds) containing silicon is silicone. It’s flexible with a rubbery texture, and is highly durable, standing up well to stress, heat, and many chemicals. It’s often used for kitchen tools, Hollywood special effects, and breast implants. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/94 "2026-02-16T16:09:44Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > We’ve talked several times over the years about the consequences of being a Doper. Is it a good social outlet and social support system, or is it “social methadone” where it gives the illusion of being social and supportive while not delivering the goods. And instead mostly crowding out actual social with actual in-person people and leaving little of real value in its place. Heck if I know. I think it’s somewhere in the middle, probably. I have had times where I posted here out of loneliness and other times where it was just something fun to do. It’s probably not as good as face to face interaction, but I’m not getting much of that during the week. So it slots in nicely to existing social gaps. That’s different, I think, then it being the sole source of social support, and I would imagine it varies greatly from person to person. > [@vbob](#): > > In order to stay close to topic, I wonder if my predeliction for compulsively rereading long complex love stories [Bujold, Crusie, …] is not that far removed from spending ‘quality’ time with a chatbot. But this comment is really just an excuse to say that I don’t want to just hear about the stories @Spice_Weasel writes, I want to know **where** to read them… Working on it! In my copious free time. There’s a reason so many people start their writing careers during retirement. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/95 "2026-02-16T20:09:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Silicon is an element. It’s a common component of many kinds of rock, and when ultra-purified (and with trace impurities added in just the right precise ways), it can be used to make computer chips. In its pure form, it’s hard and looks kind of like a metal Exactly correct. It is in some ways quite similar to carbon, and is the next element down from carbon in the same column of the periodic table. So there is some speculation that it might possibly be a basis for some kind of life. (Quite different from silicon computers created by technology, of course) But the silicon-silicon bond is much weaker than the carbon-carbon bond and does not seem to have the same tendency to form a lot of complex molecules? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/96 "2026-02-16T22:37:11Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I’ve used LLMs for some light coding tasks, advice on some other technical stuff and for music recommendations. I’m usually fairly terse with it – processing your pleases and thank yous is a waste of tokens and doesn’t accomplish any better results. You’ve clearly never coded in [INTERCAL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INTERCAL). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/97 "2026-02-17T17:27:18Z")
China is doing pioneering work on sexbots. > **[This Robot With a Working Human Face Is Incredibly Unsettling](https://futurism.com/robots-and-machines/robot-human-face-unsettling)** > > Chinese robot company DroidUP showed off Moya, a "warm" robot that features human-like skin and eerily animated moving facial features. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/98 "2026-02-17T17:36:28Z")
A good youtube video on the topic that I saw not long ago: [Virtual love - How dangerous are AI relationships? | DW Documentary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAHLK1B5ijs) Summary: Yes, AI lovers are real. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/99 "2026-02-17T17:36:54Z")
> Moya’s skin can maintain a humanlike temperature of 89 to 96 degrees Fahrenheit, a feature that could make it more difficult for DroidUP to argue that the bot isn’t intended for adult purposes. Well, that and using the carpool lane Seems like a silly factor in worrying about whether it’s potentially a sexbot or not. Does it have a usable vagina? Then it’s probably a sexbot regardless of the body temperature. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663/100 "2026-02-17T17:43:51Z")
Well, people fall in love on line without ever seeing the person they’ve been talking to, so the fact that it is an AI amounts to just another step forward. Seems really weird, but there’s a lot of “weird” these days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ai-lover-is-this-real/1027663.md?page=6)