Technology

59467 readers

4271 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

223

'Better than a real man': young Chinese women turn to AI boyfriends (techxplore.com)

submitted 9 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

77 comments fedilink hide all child comments

'Better than a real man': young Chinese women turn to AI boyfriends::Twenty-five-year-old Chinese office worker Tufei says her boyfriend has everything she could ask for in a romantic partner: he's kind, empathetic, and sometimes they talk for hours.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 10 points 9 months ago (3 children)

That's just a friend, then. I would think a boyfriend would be a friend you could be physically affectionate to, which obviously you can't with a chatbot. I'm not against people having virtual friends, I just don't see why it's a boyfriend.

[–] activ8r@sh.itjust.works 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Depends on their style of emotional investment I guess. Not all romantic relationships are sexual, so physical intimacy isn't necessarily required. So it reasonably could be the same emotional attachment to the AI as it would be for a real person. Whether or not that is healthy is an entirely different topic, but having a virtual boyfriend is very possible.

[–] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I’m not an asexual so my opinion here might have little value but I would imagine asexuals might still enjoy physical intimacy that is non-sexual in nature. Do they not need things like holding hands, hugging, kissing, sitting close to one another either? Even non-touch love language types like acts of service would be impossible for an ai.

[–] iquanyin@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

i am on the ace spectrum and for me, yes, i want those things. and i will have sex too, but generally i'd rather do other things. i've never experienced lust for anyone in my life, but i have two grown children and miss cuddling now that im single again.

[–] indistincthobby@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

What about long distance relationships?

[–] TheRealKuni@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

“Long distance is the wrong distance!”

-Liz Lemon, relationship expert

[–] iquanyin@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

same. it's just clickbait adjacent wording to catch eyeballs for fun and profit.