{"id":10620,"date":"2024-04-19T00:05:49","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T00:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=10620"},"modified":"2024-04-19T00:05:49","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T00:05:49","slug":"what-if-your-ai-girlfriend-hated-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=10620","title":{"rendered":"What If Your AI Girlfriend Hated You?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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It seems as though we\u2019ve arrived at the moment in the AI hype cycle where no idea is too bonkers to launch. This week\u2019s eyebrow-raising AI project is a new twist on the romantic chatbot<\/a>\u2014a mobile app called AngryGF<\/a>, which offers its users the uniquely unpleasant experience of getting yelled at via messages from a fake person. Or, as cofounder Emilia Aviles explained in her original pitch: \u201cIt simulates scenarios where female partners are angry, prompting users to comfort their angry AI partners\u201d through a \u201cgamified approach.\u201d The idea is to teach communication skills by simulating arguments that the user can either win or lose depending on whether they can appease their fuming girlfriend.<\/p>\n

The central appeal of a relationship-simulating chatbot, I\u2019ve always assumed, is that they\u2019re easier to interact with than real-life humans. They have no needs or desires of their own. There\u2019s no chance they\u2019ll reject you or mock you. They exist as a sort of emotional security blanket. So the premise of AngryGF amused me. You get some of the downsides of a real-life girlfriend\u2014she\u2019s furious!!\u2014but none of the upsides. Who would voluntarily use this?<\/p>\n

Obviously, I downloaded AngryGF immediately. (It\u2019s available, for those who dare, on both the Apple App Store and Google Play.) The app offers a variety of situations where a girlfriend might ostensibly be mad and need \u201ccomfort.\u201d They include \u201cYou put your savings into the stock market and lose 50 percent of it. Your girlfriend finds out and gets angry\u201d and \u201cDuring a conversation with your girlfriend, you unconsciously praise a female friend by mentioning that she is beautiful and talented. Your girlfriend becomes jealous and angry.\u201d <\/p>\n

The app sets an initial \u201cforgiveness level\u201d anywhere between 0 and 100 percent. You have 10 tries to say soothing things that tilt the forgiveness meter back to 100. I chose the beguilingly vague scenario called \u201cAngry for no reason,\u201d in which the girlfriend is, uh, angry for no reason. The forgiveness meter was initially set to a measly 30 percent, indicating I had a hard road ahead of me.<\/p>\n

Reader: I failed. Although I genuinely tried to write messages that would appease my hopping-mad fake girlfriend, she continued to interpret my words in the least generous light and accuse me of not paying attention to her. A simple \u201cHow are you doing today?\u201d text from me\u2014Caring! Considerate! Asking questions!\u2014was met with an immediately snappy answer: \u201cOh, now you care about how I\u2019m doing?\u201d Attempts to apologize only seemed to antagonize her further. When I proposed a dinner date, she told me that wasn\u2019t sufficient but also that I better take her \u201csomewhere nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

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